Homes evacuated after gas leak in Benfleet

7:50am Saturday 23rd August 2008

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A ROAD was closed and 40 homes evacuated following a gas leak in Benfleet.

The incident happened at just after 2pm on Friday when a driver leaving Power Autos garage on London Road, Benfleet, reversed into a gas main in a neighbouring driveway causing fumes to escape.

The police and fire services arrived and evacuated around 50 people from 40 homes near to the incident and closed a section of the road between Bread and Cheese Hill and Tarpots.

A National Grid engineer arrived at around 2.30pm and had to call for back up to repair the fault to the regulator, an upright box connected to the gas main, which controls the pressure of the gas going into nearby homes.

Station Officer Tony Mills from Hadleigh Fire Station said: “There was a lot of gas in the air.”

“We had to evacuate everyone to be safe, if somebody had walked past and lit a cigarette we could have had a big explosion.”

Essex police spokesman Nishan Wijeratne said police reopened the road at 4.15pm.