Thousands of people have finally had gas supply restored after days without it following a major outage.

About 2,180 properties in Woodstock were affected by the "unplanned interruption" which began at about 6pm on Tuesday (August 20).

Portable and electric appliances for cooking and heating were offered to the elderly, disabled, chronically sick or those with young children or other special needs.

A customer centre was set up at Woodstock Community Hall on New Road with the SGN team on hand from 9.30am on Wednesday.

SGN confirmed they were assessing the damage and carrying out repairs in Langford Lane whilst temporary two-way traffic lights were placed in operation.

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One resident said: “SGN teams, including some called from Portsmouth and other centres, were swarming over the village calling on 1,200 homes alerting people, cutting off their boilers for safety reasons, while they tried to find the cause.

"I was advised that it could take days or even weeks to resolve.

SGN set up a customer centre at Woodstock Community Centre (Image: SGN)

"This is a huge issue for residents and catering businesses - particularly with Woodstock Live this weekend.

"An emergency centre has been set up at a school to provide electric hot plates and heaters to help people cook and heat water."

On Thursday night the company said the repair works were complete and it was going to each individual property to restore gas supplies.

But about 650 properties still had no gas as of 3.15pm on Friday.

SGN said it would visit these properties "as soon as possible to reconnect your gas supply and carry out safety checks".

They added households would automatically receive compensation of £70 for each 24-hour period they were without gas.

"We would like to say thank you to all of those who have been affected by this emergency for your ongoing support and understanding," they said.

Meanwhile Woodstock town councillor Sharone Parnes said it was "beyond disappointing" that some residents had received parking tickets while visiting the SGN customer help point set up at Woodstock Community Hall.

He said: “Some go to the information centre for updates and assistance. Some seek support for others they care about. And along comes a parking warden to dish out parking tickets. It's unreal."

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A spokesperson for Oxfordshire County Council said: “A total of four penalty charge notices were issued in New Road and Bear Close in Woodstock this morning (Thursday) for parking in permit bays without a valid permit.

“Those who have received them can challenge them by following the instructions on the back of the notices.”

In its latest and final update Southern Gas Networks (SGN) said the majority of affected homes had had their supply restored by Saturday.

It said a contact number would be left at properties where no one was in to rearrange an engineer visit.

The company added that the customer centre will be open until 6pm and it has a 24-hour helpline.