ENGINEERS from the gas emergency service are expected to clock up more miles than Santa to keep energy flowing in Ealing and Hounslow through the festive season.

The man dressed in red and white will fly 1,446 miles from Lapland to Ealing, yet the red and white vans driven by Cadent’s engineers will cover hundreds of thousands of miles in December (adding up to two million across a footprint which takes in half the UK).

Cadent is the company which keeps gas flowing to every home and business that uses grid gas (that’s almost 2.3 million in the North London region alone), for heating, cooking and power.

Cadent also co-ordinates the National Gas Emergency Service, answering one call every 20 seconds (24/7, including on Christmas Day) to the national 0800 111 999 service.

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If there’s an emergency in its network area – such as a suspected gas escape – the same team will arrange for a Cadent engineer to attend quickly.

Last December, the call handling team answered almost 2,000 calls from the Ealing, Hounslow and West London area reporting potential gas escapes, with many coming on Christmas Day itself.

James Harrison, head of operations for Cadent in London, said: “We know we’re the last visitors you want to have in your house on Christmas Day, but it’s good for you to know we’re there if you need us, if you smell gas or suspect a gas leak.”