HUNDREDS of residents endured more than a week without gas while engineers worked around the clock to reconnect the supply to homes and businesses.

National Grid engineers were reconnecting the remaining properties to the gas network yesterday, Tuesday, after residents spent a week without gas following a water main burst on Crook Lane on June 4.

Linda Dickson, of George Street, was disconnected for six days meaning her children Natalie, 15, and Lewis, six, couldn't have a shower.

She said: "It was an absolute nightmare because we had no hot water and the children couldn't have a shower.

"When I went to tell the engineers they didn't even seem to think that my road had been disconnected.

"It seems like they have been working very hard to get the situation sorted but it has been a real inconvenience, especially for people like me with young children.

"I hated sending my children to school without a shower but we just had to get on with it."

The gas supply was cut off to homes in the Wharton area after a water main burst and flooded the gas network.

Residents are being offered compensation for the inconvenience caused by the gas shortage.

A National Grid spokesman said: "National Grid will pay £30 compensation to domestic users for each 24-hour period they are without supply and this will be paid directly to their gas supplier."

If internal pipe work has been damaged residents should call a CORGI registered engineer and the invoice sent to Darren Hill, United Utilities, Head Office (Insurance), Dawson House, Liverpool Road, Warrington, WA5 7LW.