Around 1,200 homes and businesses in the Richmond and Kew area may have lost their gas supply today after a burst water main leaked into the network.

A statement from gas supplier Cadent confirmed the incident had occurred on Thursday evening (January 23) in the TW9 area, and that emergency repair work has been ongoing - but no deadline was issued for the completion of repairs.

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A spokesman stated that an engineer would have to visit every affected property to turn off the gas supply at the gas meter, but advised residents not to do so themselves.

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A statement read: "The water leak has now been stopped and work is under way to repair the burst water main.

"Before we can restore gas supplies we will need to fix our gas main and remove all the water from our pipes.

"We will also need to visit every affected property to safely turn off the gas supply at the gas meter.

"Please arrange for someone to be at home to enable us to access your property.

"The sooner we are able to switch everyone off, the sooner we will be able to restore gas supplies."

Engineers visiting properties will carry identification.

The statement continued: "Once every home is switched off and all the water has been removed from our gas pipe network, we will then have to visit every property to switch the gas supply back on and ensure gas is flowing safely.

"We are working to resolve this problem as soon as possible but at the moment we cannot give a timescale for how long it will take to restore gas supplies. We will keep people updated. We greatly appreciate your patience."