A builder slammed a gas company after his supply was turned off without warning.

Ken Williams, of Cumberland Avenue, Southend, was told his gas was being turned off that day and he would have to arrange an appointment to have it restored.

He claimed gas pipe-laying company Transco had promised residents ten days' warning before the gas would be turned off.

Transco are laying new gas pipes along the road and Mr Williams said the work has been going on for three months and residents have not been told when it will be completed.

Mr Williams, who has a two-year-old son, Lewis, said: "Our whole house relies on gas. We have a gas cooker and gas central heating.

"I think it is terrible to expect us to go without gas central heating when there is a child in the house and the weather is getting bad.

"We had to make an appointment to have the gas turned back on. My wife and I both work, so it isn't like we could wait in every day for the work to be finished."

His wife Sally, 29, said: "I just can't wait for all the work to be finished. It has been going on for so long now."

A spokeswoman for Transco said: "We spoke to Mr Williams to arrange a mutually convenient time to turn his gas on again.

"We changed contractors halfway through the work which has meant that we were able to link homes up to the new main pipe earlier than we previously thought.

"In order to hurry the work up we asked the workers to ask property owners if it was convenient for them if we turned their gas off for a brief period and made the link earlier than previously arranged.

"We are laying 400 meters of piping down along the road, but we hope it will be finished in a few days."

Angry - Ken Williams, pictured with his son Lewis, aged two, claims families were not told when gas supplies would be cut off for urgent work and it left him without power

Picture: MIKE NEVILLE

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