Frightened residents of Kincaidston say they are “sitting waiting on the next explosion,” as they told gas chiefs they still feel unsafe in their homes.
At a tense meeting with gas distribution firm SGN the Ayr community fumed over recent faults found during major gas replacement works project intended to reassure residents.
But furious residents said they are back living in fear after a host of emergency call outs to the estate over newly installed components.
At a heated exchange in Kincaidston Community Pavilion, families told how they are enduring sleepless nights after weeks of panic.
One elderly man known in the community as 'Papa' told SGN bosses: “We are sitting here waiting for the next explosion.”
Dad Steven Mclaughlin aired his frustrations after his newly installed gas meter was found to have a leak.
Ayrshire Live first told how the dad-of-one and deliver found a screw and joint loose as he hit out at the botched job earlier this month.
Steven fumed: “Everyday there is something else wrong in the estate.
“We keep being told these are isolated incidents and that they are minor but how can a gas leak be minor?"
General manager James Mooney admitted that gas leaks were common during a project on the scale of Kincaidston.
In total they admitted there have been two gas leaks since the project started, calling each incident “minor escapes”, with bosses saying the escapes were “not significant enough.”
But residents were left frustrated by their response and the use of minor to describe the occurrences causing grave concern in the community.
Community leader Robert Dunn, treasurer of the Kincaidston Community Pavilion grilled SGN on gas meters.
It comes after residents had raised the alarm their meter was not being moved outside as was originally agreed by SGN.
But SGN boss James told the meeting how 65 residents had agreed to have their meter kept inside.
And he revealed that the default position for the replacement works was to keep all meters inside.
However SGN were unable to answer a question from residents if meters placed outside a property were any safer than those kept inside homes.
SGN say they have always maintained that there are no safety issues with meters being kept inside properties and argued that there are a lot of ‘theoretical reasons’ why this is the case.
Residents also raised concern that gas workers visiting homes were out-of-touch with the trauma the community has suffered.
Claire Dunn said: “When SGN engineers are visiting properties with suspected leaks they are giving their opinion of jobs that have been done by the contractor.
“Those opinions on dodgy workmanship can put the fear of god into people here after what’s happened, it spreads fear amongst other residents who are on edge that there will be more leaks.”
SGN boss James told residents: “We came down to reassure people, we will speak to emergency operatives about issues.
“We’re here to do a good job, escapes on a project this size and nature are common.
“We aim to learn from it and correct it.
“We believe the replacement project was the right thing to do following what happened here.”
An SGN spokesperson added: “We really hope that our session yesterday helped address their outstanding questions.”
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