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Gas supplies cut at 1,200 Richmond homes after pipe burst

Image captionEngineers are slowly pumping out water from the gas pipe network

More than a 1,200 homes in south-west London have been without gas for four days after water from a burst main entered local gas pipes.

The leak was fixed but for safety reasons gas supplies were cut off in the TW9 area of Richmond on Thursday.

Distributor Cadent said it had now started pumping out some of the water but it "will take some time" as 35 km (21.7 miles) of pipes are affected.

Residents have been given electric heaters and hobs while the gas is off.

A local leisure centre has also been made available for people to have hot showers.

Seamus Joyce said his family were managing without gas but "we do feel the chill" because of the cold weather.

Image captionSeamus Joyce said his family were using storage heaters and electric blankets to stay warm

Engineers visited each affected property to switch off gas meters before they began pumping out liquid from some areas.

Asif Aziz, Cadent's network manager, said it would take "a few days to get all the water out of the system".

The firm has warned customers not to attempt to switch their own supply on but to leave it to its engineers.

Thames Water said its engineers had been able to "find and fix the leak" on Thursday and were now "supporting Cadent as they help any customers who have been affected".