A WORRIED mum is living in fear of history repeating itself unless the gas pipes in her street are checked out for leaks.

More than 20 years ago Mary-Ann Johnson's mother escaped death when her home blew up in a gas explosion which destroyed two houses and claimed the life of her next-door neighbour.

Now after a gas leak at her own next-door neighbour's house in Willow Trees Drive, Lammack, Mrs Johnson is calling for the gas company to act before it is too late.

She said: "My neighbour was digging a hole in his garden when he smelled gas. He called out the engineers who had to replace the pipes running to his house because they were completely fractured.

"All the houses on this street are more than 50 years old, so if one set of pipes are like that what are all the rest going to be like? "We had our pipes replaced nine years ago during an extension so we aren't too worried about those, but as I know only too well a gas explosion can affect others in the street as well as the house with the problem."

Mrs Johnson is now planning to write to Transco, the company responsible for gas pipes, to ask for an assurance that all the pipes in the street will be checked out for leaks and replaced if necessary.

But Jeanette Unsworth of Transco said there were no plans to run checks on the rest of the gas pipes in Willow Trees Drive.

She said: "In 1990 we did a major gas service replacement in that area and all the stainless steel pipes were replaced with new, more robust pipes that do not corrode.

"Why this one house on the street was missed, we don't know, but we are quite confident there will be no problems after our replacement programme eight years ago.

"If anybody does have any worries, or can smell gas, then they can call our 24 hour helpline on 0800 111999."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.