Cadent Gas apologises to residents as road closed ‘in error’

Cadent gas company has apologised for a ‘mistake’ whereby its workers closed a road in Maidenhead when it should not have – suddenly blocking access for residents and emergency services.

On Friday, October 17, Khalad Hussain found that access to his house was blocked by Cadent workers who closed the Braywick Road service road at the junction with Clifton Close.

Anyone who had left their home by car was unable to get back, affecting about 100 homes, Khalad said – and emergency services vehicles would have been unable to get through.

However, when Khalad raised these points to a Cadent worker, the man became ‘aggressive and rude’, he said.

The worker ‘admitted that the survey to get the permit had got it wrong’ and that the permit ‘only allowed them to dig up the pavement and not the road.’

Responding to Khalad’s concerns via email, Cadent said that they had come to repair a gas leak ‘which posed a potential risk to life and property.’

However, its team was ‘incorrectly informed’ by its traffic management partners, leading to a blockage on the one-way street. They only found this out after work had started, Cadent said.

But Khalad said this response only annoyed him even more.

“It’s obvious it’s not a two-way access,” he said. “There’s no way they could not know that people couldn’t get back in. “[Cadent] knew they were in the wrong. They were taking liberties without care for the public.

“It’s just like the water companies taking us all for fools just to make a quick buck. They shouldn’t be allowed to get away with it. The council should fine them for breaking the permit – the maximum possible.”

A Cadent spokesperson said: “We apologise for the mistake made with the initial traffic management for these emergency works.

“Once we were made aware that a road closure should not have been put in place, road plates and temporary traffic lights were installed to allow access for all residents.  

“The full works were completed and all our signing lighting and guarding removed by [Monday, October 20].

“Our permit for these emergency works was for some carriageway incursion and working in the footway area too, this was for the safety of road users and emergency engineers. 

“However, once we start to investigate and work on a live gas escape, it can mean that conditions of our search need to increase. Permit conditions need to change for a live situation.

“We work closely with local council highways authorities and if amendments need to be made, we do this as quickly as possible and inform them of any concern we or residents have.

“In this case, action was taken immediately.

“As this work was emergency work, we were not able to give local residents advance notice.

“We have taken action to ensure this does not happen again.”

Cadent’s spokesperson added that it has also taken action to make sure that anyone asking questions of workers ‘is dealt with courteously.’