Jennyfields residents still waiting for £60 gas compensation payments have been told they will be issued automatically.

About 3,500 homes in Jennyfields were without gas for 48 hours after a major gas leak on Ripon Road in October.

Northern Gas Networks, which distributes gas to homes and businesses in Yorkshire, the North East and northern Cumbria, automatically issues £60 compensation payments through customers' gas suppliers for loss of supply for more than 24 hours.

But six weeks after the leak, which the company said affected more people than any other incident it had dealt with in the last 18 months, some people have yet to be paid.

Eileen Brown, customer experience director for Northern Gas Networks, told the Stray Ferret some payments had been delayed because gas suppliers had gone out of business.

Ms Brown said Northern Gas Networks would process the payments when it was notified of the new suppliers. She added if it made the payments before then they could be delayed even longer because they would get tied up in lengthy administration processes.

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She pledged all 3,500 homes would be fully compensated automatically and asked residents not to call Northern Gas Networks requesting payments.

Asked how long people could expect to wait, Ms Brown said it was likely to be weeks rather than months but added the timings were "beyond our control" because of the need to wait until customers were transferred to new suppliers.

Some customers on the priority services register are also entitled to £48 compensation payments for the provision of alternative heating. Again, Ms Brown pledged they would be made.

'1 in 43 years occurrence'

The leak occurred when sub-contractors damaged a pipe during deep excavation work about three metres below the surface of Ripon Road, near the Hydro.

Northern Gas Networks converted the Styan Community Centre in Jennyfields into an emergency hub to respond to the incident.

A total of 355 Northern Gas Networks engineers and volunteers helped that weekend, aided by 30 voluntary organisations. The company gave away 800 electric heaters, "slightly fewer" electric hobs, 50 oil filled radiators and 1,500 food vouchers worth £10 each.

The company's response was widely praised by people in the area.

Ms Brown said the loss of gas supply happened on average once every 43 years and most customers would not experience this again in their lifetimes.

Asked how much the incident had cost Northern Gas Networks, she said she was unable to say but added: