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French gas leak closes Kinson Primary school (From Bournemouth Echo)
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French gas leak closes Kinson Primary school
8:36am Wednesday 23rd January 2013 in News
French gas leak closes Kinson Primary school
RESIDENTS were urged not to panic after a smell of gas wafting over the county yesterday sparked safety scares.
The whiff was coming from a French chemical company 200 miles away – but was enough for Kinson Primary School in Bournemouth to send children home early for fear it had a gas leak on site. Emergency services were bombarded with calls reporting a foul smell like rotten eggs from around 1pm.
As we reported yesterday, Dorset Fire and Rescue Service took around a dozen calls from concerned residents, many of whom had struggled to get through to the Transco emergency number, which was inundated by alarmed residents. Gas company Transco had thousands.
Some people even reported feeling dizzy after breathing in the foul air.
One Daily Echo reader said: “Smelt it around 1.50pm walking up East Way hill and felt really dizzy for around five minutes, not nice.”
However, the Health Protection Agency insisted the smell drifting across the English Channel posed no risk to public health.
Parents at Kinson Primary were texted at around 2.45pm to ask them to collect children early.
A spokesman for Bournemouth council said: “The decision to evacuate the school was made following advice from Southern Gas Networks. Southern Gas Networks wanted to attend the school in order to rule out a gas leak on site, which they have now done. The evacuation of pupils was a precautionary measure to ensure the children’s safety.”
The council’s health and safety team also received concerned calls from St Katherine’s School and King’s Park Primary School. They were informed that the smell posed no risk.
The unpleasant odour was reported across southern England after the leak at a chemical factory in Rouen, 75 miles west of Paris. Strong winds blew the foul-smelling gas, called Mercaptan, across the channel yesterday following the leak on Monday.
French officials said the concentration of the gas leaked from the Lubrizol factory was “very low”.
A statement issued by the Seine-Maritime prefecture said: “The gas has an unpleasant smell but is not toxic.”
The odour is caused by a particularly smelly chemical that is added to odourless natural gas to give that its characteristic smell.
Livio Ferrone, of Warnford Road, Bournemouth, said: “I spent 45 minutes trying to get through to British gas to report the smell of gas along our road. I eventually tried the ‘Do you want a new boiler?’ telephone number and was told the gas cloud from France was passing over, thus the smell.”
A Dorset Fire and Rescue Spokesman said: “We’ve take numerous calls which we believe are related to this massive plume in France. Transco are aware and have taken thousands of calls about it as well.
“If the smell of gas is coming from outside your home, please shut your windows and doors. In all probability it is related to this French chemical escape.
“Calls need to go through to Transco in the first instance, as there is little we can do.”
Fire crews were dispatched to Mill Lane, Christchurch, yesterday afternoon, to check on the stink.
The Health Protection Agency said: “The chemical leak has blown across the Channel overnight. It is not toxic and has also been diluted before entering the air over England, so people should be reassured it will cause no harm.”
Comments(47)
Wesoblind
says...
9:44am Wed 23 Jan 13
Carolyn43
says...
9:59am Wed 23 Jan 13
polblagger
says...
10:02am Wed 23 Jan 13
Schools really do look for the slightest opportunity for an early day or day off
Carolyn43
says...
10:12am Wed 23 Jan 13
polblagger wrote:As I said, people will still be saying it was a stupid decision - and take another opportunity to knock teachers.
Pathetic, 10 seconds on Google and the school would have discovered the cause.
Schools really do look for the slightest opportunity for an early day or day off
......
What if there had actually been a gas leak at the same time? Southern Gas Networks obviously thought it was worth investigating. The school has a duty of care for the children and can't take that duty lightly.
......
I can imagine the comments on how stupid the school was for NOT evacuating if there HAD been a gas leak and children were killed or injured. It would likely be the same people as now saying they were stupid in this case.
canfordcherry
says...
10:12am Wed 23 Jan 13
hamworthygirl
says...
10:32am Wed 23 Jan 13
Buddles
says...
10:36am Wed 23 Jan 13
canfordcherry wrote:I think people have different perceptions of smell.
T-butyl Mercaptan should be handled with care even in well ventilated areas not due to it's toxicity but due to it's foul smell. This is because it can cause nausea in people. Although it will have been 'well ventilated' in it's travel over from Rouen people would still have been concerned for their health. People have different levels at which they feel sick. Personally it just seemed like an oily engine smell in the air here in Poole. Wasn't it a few years ago we had the smell of manure from the German (or French?) farmers spreading on their fields. Shame these things are never pleasant odours! When are we going to etract revenge with our own formula?
Like Canfordcherry says, it was more of an oily, coal tar type smell. It certainly didn't smell like the additive to domestic gas, so I dismissed the possibility of a gas leak. In fact I thought that maybe there had been an incident at Fawley refinery until I Googled it.
alasdair1967
says...
10:42am Wed 23 Jan 13
alasdair1967
says...
10:42am Wed 23 Jan 13
l'anglais
says...
10:57am Wed 23 Jan 13
Must be due to that giant fan they installed in South East Rouen yesterday.
Carolyn43
says...
12:04pm Wed 23 Jan 13
alasdair1967 wrote:So it was totally impossible that there was a gas leak at the school at the same time?
Gross incompetence on both sides here was the gas engineer not aware of the leak in France ,it was all over the news bulletins yesterday and as someone earlier stated seconds on google would have found the answer maybe the snow flurries around that time added to the schools concerns KNEEJERK reaction
TinyLegacy
says...
12:33pm Wed 23 Jan 13
polblagger
says...
1:03pm Wed 23 Jan 13
TinyLegacy wrote:Nice try at playing the 'what if' game.
Dear lord there are some fools on here. 'Better to be safe than sorry' ring a bell? Or would you relish in dealing with a potential gas explosion at a school?
If we're going to play that, what if the gas smell was coming from a property in Kinson Road or School Lane and evacuating children and parents were caught out in the open, directly in the blast?
What if they'd been kept at a safe distance in their classrooms?
Making decisions based on no information is like tossing a coin, you can as easily place children in harms way as you can keep them safe.
Ridiculous comment.
Phixer
says...
1:43pm Wed 23 Jan 13
polblagger wrote:Interesting that the smell of gas travelled all the way from Paris, along the south coast, and it wasn't until it reached Kinson that someone panic'd.
TinyLegacy wrote:Nice try at playing the 'what if' game.
Dear lord there are some fools on here. 'Better to be safe than sorry' ring a bell? Or would you relish in dealing with a potential gas explosion at a school?
If we're going to play that, what if the gas smell was coming from a property in Kinson Road or School Lane and evacuating children and parents were caught out in the open, directly in the blast?
What if they'd been kept at a safe distance in their classrooms?
Making decisions based on no information is like tossing a coin, you can as easily place children in harms way as you can keep them safe.
Ridiculous comment.
alasdair1967
says...
1:43pm Wed 23 Jan 13
Carolyn43 wrote:The same odour that has been covering the majority of the south coast since yesterday
alasdair1967 wrote:So it was totally impossible that there was a gas leak at the school at the same time?
Gross incompetence on both sides here was the gas engineer not aware of the leak in France ,it was all over the news bulletins yesterday and as someone earlier stated seconds on google would have found the answer maybe the snow flurries around that time added to the schools concerns KNEEJERK reaction
Bournesouthmouth Downpokes
says...
1:54pm Wed 23 Jan 13
1) Regarding this "tramp about town".
Probably you are a tramp using the library
computers to spout off this utter ignorant
nonsense!
Listen if you don't have children (who are
at school) it should be suggested that you
don't even get involved on a comments
section regarding children... ”
2) Agreed in some ways a lot of today's
youth is disrespectful and out of control,
with no manners. I'll give you that. I put
this down to bad parenting though.
Now, in other ways, back in the day when
the tolly was used in school, and there
was less of this "health and safety"
protocol football hooliganism was rife
(even even during the 70's and 80's let
alone the 90's). Nowadays this is mostly a
thing of the past.
Plus my son went to a very strict, zero
tolerance, no holds barred, all boys
catholic school in the 80's. My point, this
school, along with most other local
schools were full of bullies, very
boisterous and having fights with other
schools, etc.
So you can not ever really fault a school
saying the way contributes to today's
society. Just a thought. Think before you
speak. Stop reading the Daily Mail! ”
3) scrumpyjack wrote:
I hate 'over the top' safety.
But you would have to be an utter fool to
ignore the smell of gas.
Just put 'gas explosion' under google
images.
If people are in school all day how are
they expected to know about something
that was reported in the news during the
day?
In my opinion there are 2 trolls working
today.
And this from somebody who is normally
in the frame.
Very commendable coming from you
Grumpy Jack. Hats off to you sir for
seeing the light ;-) ”
Bournesouthmouth Downpokes
says...
1:57pm Wed 23 Jan 13
NOT EVERY ONE IS GLUED TO BBC NEWS 24/7. WE AS A HOUSEHOLD, FOR ONE, DON'T EVEN HAVE LIVE TV (Not stupid enough to pay for a "TV License" as we don't ourselves as sheeple)
Bournesouthmouth Downpokes
says...
1:58pm Wed 23 Jan 13
HRH of Boscombe
says...
2:11pm Wed 23 Jan 13
l'anglais wrote:With 10 million french people I find that hard to believe.
No smell here in Paris today. Must be due to that giant fan they installed in South East Rouen yesterday.
whataboutthat
says...
2:27pm Wed 23 Jan 13
guisselle
says...
2:52pm Wed 23 Jan 13
that'll do the trick!
Eloise Fabreeze (sneeze)
TinyLegacy
says...
3:08pm Wed 23 Jan 13
polblagger wrote:You sir, are an idiot. Or troll, which is more likely.
TinyLegacy wrote:Nice try at playing the 'what if' game.
Dear lord there are some fools on here. 'Better to be safe than sorry' ring a bell? Or would you relish in dealing with a potential gas explosion at a school?
If we're going to play that, what if the gas smell was coming from a property in Kinson Road or School Lane and evacuating children and parents were caught out in the open, directly in the blast?
What if they'd been kept at a safe distance in their classrooms?
Making decisions based on no information is like tossing a coin, you can as easily place children in harms way as you can keep them safe.
Ridiculous comment.
Next time someone smells gas, no matter where they are, it's best they find the nearest internet connection and get on Google, right?
Hessenford
says...
3:25pm Wed 23 Jan 13
TinyLegacy wrote:Why is it when ever somebody has a different opinion to certain commenter's on here they are branded trolls by the same old faces, freedom of speech is a wonderful right which people like TinyLegacy would like to be taken away.
polblagger wrote:You sir, are an idiot. Or troll, which is more likely.
TinyLegacy wrote:Nice try at playing the 'what if' game.
Dear lord there are some fools on here. 'Better to be safe than sorry' ring a bell? Or would you relish in dealing with a potential gas explosion at a school?
If we're going to play that, what if the gas smell was coming from a property in Kinson Road or School Lane and evacuating children and parents were caught out in the open, directly in the blast?
What if they'd been kept at a safe distance in their classrooms?
Making decisions based on no information is like tossing a coin, you can as easily place children in harms way as you can keep them safe.
Ridiculous comment.
Next time someone smells gas, no matter where they are, it's best they find the nearest internet connection and get on Google, right?
tramp_about_town
says...
3:39pm Wed 23 Jan 13
This is totally unacceptable! Just think of the children and how their education must be suffering.
This school should be investigated by OFSTED immediately to dicover what on earth is going on.
TinyLegacy
says...
4:04pm Wed 23 Jan 13
Hessenford wrote:So now you're having a go because im a communist? Not very democratic of you...
TinyLegacy wrote:Why is it when ever somebody has a different opinion to certain commenter's on here they are branded trolls by the same old faces, freedom of speech is a wonderful right which people like TinyLegacy would like to be taken away.
polblagger wrote:You sir, are an idiot. Or troll, which is more likely.
TinyLegacy wrote:Nice try at playing the 'what if' game.
Dear lord there are some fools on here. 'Better to be safe than sorry' ring a bell? Or would you relish in dealing with a potential gas explosion at a school?
If we're going to play that, what if the gas smell was coming from a property in Kinson Road or School Lane and evacuating children and parents were caught out in the open, directly in the blast?
What if they'd been kept at a safe distance in their classrooms?
Making decisions based on no information is like tossing a coin, you can as easily place children in harms way as you can keep them safe.
Ridiculous comment.
Next time someone smells gas, no matter where they are, it's best they find the nearest internet connection and get on Google, right?
O'Reilly
says...
4:07pm Wed 23 Jan 13
Wesoblind wrote:Yep....it makes you talk and sing like Alvin from the Chipmunks.
i dont believe it was not toxic for one second! lets face it heilium is dangerous to breath in!
Hessenford
says...
4:13pm Wed 23 Jan 13
TinyLegacy wrote:Not having a go, posing a question, your reaction to others comments by way of insults leads one to believe that you do not want others to speak freely, especially when they don't agree with your statements.
Hessenford wrote:So now you're having a go because im a communist? Not very democratic of you...
TinyLegacy wrote:Why is it when ever somebody has a different opinion to certain commenter's on here they are branded trolls by the same old faces, freedom of speech is a wonderful right which people like TinyLegacy would like to be taken away.
polblagger wrote:You sir, are an idiot. Or troll, which is more likely.
TinyLegacy wrote:Nice try at playing the 'what if' game.
Dear lord there are some fools on here. 'Better to be safe than sorry' ring a bell? Or would you relish in dealing with a potential gas explosion at a school?
If we're going to play that, what if the gas smell was coming from a property in Kinson Road or School Lane and evacuating children and parents were caught out in the open, directly in the blast?
What if they'd been kept at a safe distance in their classrooms?
Making decisions based on no information is like tossing a coin, you can as easily place children in harms way as you can keep them safe.
Ridiculous comment.
Next time someone smells gas, no matter where they are, it's best they find the nearest internet connection and get on Google, right?
TinyLegacy
says...
4:32pm Wed 23 Jan 13
Hessenford
says...
4:35pm Wed 23 Jan 13
TinyLegacy wrote:Well prove me wrong and I will apologise, stop calling people trolls just because they have an alternative view to yours.
Well now you're just jumping to conclusions.
Hessenford
says...
4:37pm Wed 23 Jan 13
tramp_about_town wrote:Well said, first snow the gas, what else can the think up for a triple whammy.
This is the second day this has happened! We were debating this yesterday until some of the usual crowd came along slinging insults.
This is totally unacceptable! Just think of the children and how their education must be suffering.
This school should be investigated by OFSTED immediately to dicover what on earth is going on.
TinyLegacy
says...
4:44pm Wed 23 Jan 13
Hessenford wrote:Sorry, how often do I do this? That's rhetorical BTW, I care not for your answer. I am always right.
TinyLegacy wrote:Well prove me wrong and I will apologise, stop calling people trolls just because they have an alternative view to yours.
Well now you're just jumping to conclusions.
Hessenford
says...
4:51pm Wed 23 Jan 13
TinyLegacy wrote:Just as I thought, a bigot.
Hessenford wrote:Sorry, how often do I do this? That's rhetorical BTW, I care not for your answer. I am always right.
TinyLegacy wrote:Well prove me wrong and I will apologise, stop calling people trolls just because they have an alternative view to yours.
Well now you're just jumping to conclusions.
Bournesouthmouth Downpokes
says...
5:11pm Wed 23 Jan 13
Hessenford wrote:Two of a kind you both are, definitely either trolls or plain idiotic.
tramp_about_town wrote:Well said, first snow the gas, what else can the think up for a triple whammy.
This is the second day this has happened! We were debating this yesterday until some of the usual crowd came along slinging insults.
This is totally unacceptable! Just think of the children and how their education must be suffering.
This school should be investigated by OFSTED immediately to dicover what on earth is going on.
Childrens' education suffering??? This school be invesigated by OFSTED???
Because they were evacuated 30 minutes earlier than the usual bell?
You should be investigated by mental health!
muscliffman
says...
5:32pm Wed 23 Jan 13
Electronically - by text it reports above, when presumably the kids were still on site. (Clue - they ask you to turn off phones at petrol stations because....)
'nuff said' in the circumstances I think.
Hessenford
says...
5:38pm Wed 23 Jan 13
skydriver
says...
5:44pm Wed 23 Jan 13
Ophilum
says...
6:02pm Wed 23 Jan 13
muscliffman
says...
6:17pm Wed 23 Jan 13
Hessenford wrote:Another fair point - but judging by the ignorance on here best to put your comments 'tin hat' on anyway!
How many other schools shut in this area because of this smell, how many schools between Kinson and the coast didn't shut, why was it only one school that could smell the gas.
I am quite near this School and I could smell an odour that was somewhere between stale diesel and old sweat (nice!).
The artficial smell put into UK gas seems to be very different to the 'flavour' used by the French. (This gas, UK or French, has no natural odour).
I did not for one moment suspect a domestic UK gas leak and neither evidently did the vast - and clearly more enlightened in so many ways - majority.
Good intentions - no doubt. Got it wrong - proven without a doubt.
Carolyn43
says...
6:43pm Wed 23 Jan 13
tramp_about_town wrote:What are you on about? This is the second day this has happened? This is another report of what happened YESTERDAY.
This is the second day this has happened! We were debating this yesterday until some of the usual crowd came along slinging insults.
This is totally unacceptable! Just think of the children and how their education must be suffering.
This school should be investigated by OFSTED immediately to dicover what on earth is going on.
spooki
says...
10:24pm Wed 23 Jan 13
TinyLegacy wrote:But they couldn't switch on the leccy for their wi-fi box in case it was a home gas leak...but then again they're too busy trolling on here to think about things like that, you know, safety and such.
polblagger wrote:You sir, are an idiot. Or troll, which is more likely.
TinyLegacy wrote:Nice try at playing the 'what if' game.
Dear lord there are some fools on here. 'Better to be safe than sorry' ring a bell? Or would you relish in dealing with a potential gas explosion at a school?
If we're going to play that, what if the gas smell was coming from a property in Kinson Road or School Lane and evacuating children and parents were caught out in the open, directly in the blast?
What if they'd been kept at a safe distance in their classrooms?
Making decisions based on no information is like tossing a coin, you can as easily place children in harms way as you can keep them safe.
Ridiculous comment.
Next time someone smells gas, no matter where they are, it's best they find the nearest internet connection and get on Google, right?
l'anglais
says...
10:42pm Wed 23 Jan 13
whataboutthat wrote:The clue is Electricité de France.
Good job it wasn't a nuclear 'cloud' leak - just how many nuclear power stations does France have on the Cherbourg/Normandy coastline - four or five? Thanks EDF.
Now if you want to sell your national assets, no point griping when a competent foreigner comes along and cleans up your mess.
I heard the good news about the "British" export figures for Car sales.
What was exported?
British Leyland?
Morris?
Austin?
E Type?
Carolyn43
says...
8:26am Thu 24 Jan 13
tramp_about_town wrote:Read the article. Throughout it says "yesterday". It's you who needs to get a grip, and I'm certainly not panicking - apart from the fact that I don't panick, the the ONLY incident was on TUESDAY.
Carolyn43 wrote:I don't think so. Why on earth would the Echo bother to make it the main headline today if it only happened yesterday? I know that education (or the failure to deliver should I say) is an important story but not in the context of one school!
tramp_about_town wrote:What are you on about? This is the second day this has happened? This is another report of what happened YESTERDAY.
This is the second day this has happened! We were debating this yesterday until some of the usual crowd came along slinging insults.
This is totally unacceptable! Just think of the children and how their education must be suffering.
This school should be investigated by OFSTED immediately to dicover what on earth is going on.
You need to get a grip!
Another panicky person! This town/country is getting more ridiculous by the day!
scrumpyjack
says...
9:32am Thu 24 Jan 13
retry69
says...
9:48am Thu 24 Jan 13
polblagger
says...
10:34am Thu 24 Jan 13
TinyLegacy wrote:I had hoped to not need to point out the blatantly obvious.
polblagger wrote:You sir, are an idiot. Or troll, which is more likely.
TinyLegacy wrote:Nice try at playing the 'what if' game.
Dear lord there are some fools on here. 'Better to be safe than sorry' ring a bell? Or would you relish in dealing with a potential gas explosion at a school?
If we're going to play that, what if the gas smell was coming from a property in Kinson Road or School Lane and evacuating children and parents were caught out in the open, directly in the blast?
What if they'd been kept at a safe distance in their classrooms?
Making decisions based on no information is like tossing a coin, you can as easily place children in harms way as you can keep them safe.
Ridiculous comment.
Next time someone smells gas, no matter where they are, it's best they find the nearest internet connection and get on Google, right?
This is a chemical leak that started in France.
How on earth could a group of educators fail to distinguish the level of concentration being stronger OUTSIDE the building rather than INSIDE.
If I was responsible for children's safety, far from pushing them into the concentrated area I'd be inclined to keep them inside.
kingstonpaul
says...
2:15pm Thu 24 Jan 13
HRH of Boscombe wrote:Oh dear HRH, you must be so embarrassed you penned this little retort. OK, laugh out loud folks at his masterfully crafted piece of rib-aching, side-splitting humour. Perhaps you thought it was smart, a bit cutting-edge? Or, perhaps you spend too much time in your bedroom, staring at your computer screen, and picking up all such puerile nonsense. You should get out more often.
l'anglais wrote:With 10 million french people I find that hard to believe.
No smell here in Paris today. Must be due to that giant fan they installed in South East Rouen yesterday.
.
Por Speller says...
9:42am Wed 23 Jan 13