CONTRACTORS at the scene of a gas explosion in which a man was injured carried on working an hour after they had smelled gas, it was revealed today.

John Kennedy employees, under contract to North West Water, had dug down to a water pipe under Burnley Road, Bacup, when they smelled gas at 12.40pm last Monday.

Tom Regan, divisional director for Kennedy, said his men alerted British Gas and an engineer arrived. But a dispute has arisen between the Kennedy and British Gas over whether the men were told to stop.

Alex Cunningham, public relations adviser with British Gas, said: "Our engineer gave very clear instructions to the contractors and they should have heeded them. It is basic common sense that people should not continue doing any form of work where there is gas escaping."

He said the engineer told the workers to stop, then went to check if gas could be smelled in adjoining properties.

As he was returning to his van to radio for a gang to come out and repair the leak, a spark ignited the gas. Mr Regan disputed that, saying: "The gas engineer did not tell our men to stop work, so they continued to scrape the pipe. They were scraping it for a third time when the explosion occurred."

"Whether a spark from the pipe ignited the gas in the ground we are not sure, but the flames then melted a plastic gas feeder pipe."

At 1.45pm, spectacular flames leapt 30ft into the air, covering the gable end of a house on Holmes Lane and causing traffic to be diverted from the busy main road for several hours.

Homes were evacuated and it was not until 3.25pm, when engineers from Norweb turned off the power to a 6,000 volt cable which had also been damaged, that firefighters could put out the blaze and gas engineers could plug the mains.

Joseph Ward, a worker with Kennedy, described by Mr Regan as a trained and experienced gas worker, received burns to his arms, hands and face and is still off work.

The Health and Safety Office is investigating the incident and has taken statements from everyone involved.

An inspector said it was too early to say whether any prosecutions would be made.

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