The council has an Emergency Repair Service to deal with very urgent repairs outside normal working hours. If you have an emergency repair, phone the council’s emergency telephone number on 01455 251137 and give full details of the problem.

Emergency repairs include:

• Blocked drains
• Blocked toilet (where there is only one toilet in the property)
• Total heating failure (involving frail or elderly residents)
• Major water leaks
• Major electrical failure

The emergency service only deals with very urgent work, not jobs that can safely be left until normal working hours. The contractor will usually 'make safe' or do temporary repairs. In some cases, permanent repairs will be left for normal working hours, so please do not expect the job to be done fully during emergency hours.

If tenants think there is a gas leak in their home (or nearby) they must contact Transco at once on 0800 111 999. In the mean time:

• Turn the gas off at the meter
• Open the windows and doors to let the gas out
• Extinguish any naked flames
• Do not turn any electrical switches or sockets on or off
• Get in touch with Transco at once (telephone 0800 111-999).