Coventry gas leak sparks urgent evacuation as locals urged to shut windows

Properties on a suburban street have been evacuated following a gas leak.

The fire service has warned other residents in Wyken, Coventry, to shut their windows and doors as a precaution tonight. Emergency services rushed to the street, near a primary school and a pub, after reports of the gas leak earlier today.

The leak was from a pipe that had been damaged during excavation work, West Midlands Fire Service found. Cadent engineers were called out to the residential street.

The road was closed so authorities could safely evacuate residents. West Midlands Fire Service told others to close their windows and the service's social media has posted information to make others aware of the investigation.

A West Midlands Fire Service spokesperson said: "West Midlands Police also attended to support scene safety. We left the scene around 12.35pm." Both the Mirror and Coventry Live have contacted West Midlands Police and Cadent about the incident.

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In June, around 2,000 people were evacuated from multiple buildings in the heart of London following a suspected gas leak. A cordon and road closure was put in place in Southwark Street, a major road in Southwark - causing a build-up of heavy traffic - and people were warned to avoid the area. Nobody was believed to have been injured due to the apparent leak.

An initial tweet from London Fire Brigade had read: "We're currently at the scene of a suspected gas leak on Southwark Street in #Southwark. Emergency service colleagues are also in attendance. A cordon and road closure is in place and several buildings have been evacuated as a precaution. Please avoid the area at this time."

A follow-up tweet said the fire services were still at the scene, specifying that the leak occurred at the junction of Great Suffolk Street. By this time, the traffic was descibed as "very heavy."