School and GP surgery evacuated after firefighters inundated with calls over 'strong smell of gas' across Black Country
The public have been reassured that an incident involving a strong smell of gas in the air has now ended.
West Midlands Fire Service and Cadent Gas have worked throughout the night to investigate a large number of calls from people from across the region who reported a strong smell of gas on Monday.
There were 20 calls made between 11.39am and 12.44pm from people in Tipton, Wednesbury and Walsall, with fire crews responding to six locations.
In Tipton, residents on Salter Road were advised to ventilate their properties, the gas supply was isolated as a precaution at a doctors surgery on St Marks Road and a man and a woman in their 70s were taken to hospital with breathing difficulties on Richards Road.
In Wednesbury, the gas supply of an infants school on Crew Road and a junior school on Hobs Road were isolated as a precaution, while a school academy on Friars Road was evacuated and everyone accounted for.
The fire service has now confirmed that the incident has been closed, with Cadent Gas confirming that engineers had worked to fix the problem.
Elliott Nelson, network director for Cadent in the West Midlands said: “Yesterday we received an unprecedented amount of calls in Tipton and the local area about a smell that people were concerned was natural gas.
“Our engineers have worked tirelessly through the night to investigate each and every call. We have found no evidence that the smell is caused by natural gas.
"We will now continue to work with other agencies to investigate the cause of the smell.
“Our concern in incidents like this is that, in amongst the smells that are not gas, there may be an isolated and unrelated real gas leak.
"That’s why it’s important to ring the national gas emergency service on 0800 111 999, if you ever smell gas, suspect the presence of carbon monoxide, or notice damage to gas pipes."
