Northern Gas Networks (NGN) has presented Withernsea AFC with a cheque for £2,000 as a thank-you for their incredible support during a recent gas outage.

Engineers restored the gas supply to around 3,000 properties on Sunday 15 January, a day after it was lost to the town. Around 130 NGN colleagues then door-knocked every home in Withernsea to ensure customers were back on gas.

The Northern Gas Network team stands with Andy Beecham, Withernsea Junior FC club chairman (right), junior team players Freddy Finn (centre right) and Harry Finn (centre left), and junior club chairman, Tony Finn (left).

In the meantime, NGN set up a 24-hour customer drop-in centre at Withernsea AFC’s sports pavilion, supplying heaters, hot plates and food to local residents.

Russel Kaye, Customer Operations Area Manager for NGN recently presented Tony Finn of Withernsea AFC with the cheque to thank the club for their outstanding support.

Russel said: “The support we received from the Withernsea community as we carried out our work was incredible and we’d like to thanks everyone who helped out.

“Withernsea AFC and its members were outstanding, providing their pavilion for us to use all week so we’d like to say thank you by contributing £2,000 to the club for all the help they supplied.

“We’d also like to thank Withernsea Town Council, the British Red Cross, the fire service, East Riding of Yorkshire Council and local residents themselves for their support during the outage. We couldn’t have ensured such a swift resolution without them.”

Jayne Moxon, Town Clerk for Withernsea Town Council said: “We would like to thank everyone who turned out to help over the weekend. It’s amazing how much can be achieved when everyone is working together.

“NGN and ERYC Emergency planning team were organised from the onset and the information cascaded down to the appropriate people, it really was quite something.

“We were amazed and very grateful that NGN managed to get the supply back on as quickly as they did as the whole of the town was affected – it was a huge undertaking that we feel was very well organised.

“It was clear that NGN had the appropriate number of people on the ground to deal with the problem, assisted by the local people who turned out in their droves to help. Overall, a difficult situation well managed.”

A safety mechanism in the local governor station, which supplies gas to the area, is thought to have activated and shut down the flow of gas to Withernsea. Investigations into the cause of this are continuing, although it’s likely to be some time before results are concluded.

Anyone who smells gas or suspects carbon monoxide poisoning should call the National Gas Emergency Service on 0800 111 999. This line is in operation 24 hours a day, seven days a week.