Residents return home after gas leak at Fife depot

About 100 homes had to be evacuated following a gas leak at a council depot in Dunfermline.

Scotland Gas Networks took a number of hours to seal the leak from a damaged gas valve at the Milesmark depot on Carnock Road.

The depot and a neighbouring school were also evacuated after the alarm was raised at about 1340 BST.

Fife Constabulary confirmed that residents were allowed back to their homes by 1840 BST.

The emergency services placed a 500m exclusion zone around the leak, which affects a number of the surrounding streets.

The nearby Baldridgeburn Community Centre was used as an evacuation point for local residents.

Chief Inspector Bob Baker from Fife Constabulary said: "I am pleased that this situation has been controlled speedily and without injury to any person.

"Public safety is the priority during such incidents and the speedy action of those who first attended the scene and organised the emergency response is to be commended.

"All of the services involved at this event co-operated closely thereby ensuring public safety at all times during this major incident."

A spokesman from Scotland Gas Networks, formerly Transco, said that a digger had damaged a medium-pressure gas pipe.