MORE than 100 members of the public reported smelling gas in the air in the space of an hour last night.

Cadent Gas received the calls yesterday, Tuesday, from residents in Runcorn, Warrington and Manchester - which were sparked by a ‘gas cloud’.

Engineers have ruled out the possibility of the smell being caused by natural gas, and instead believe it originated at an industrial site.

Strong winds from Storm Gareth then sent this gas and the smell ‘far and wide’.

Wind in the past few days has been coming from a westerly direction, indicating that this site is in Runcorn.

A Cadent Gas spokesman confirmed that it is believed that the source of the gas was ‘close to the Mersey’.

They added: “Last night, in the space of about an hour, we took more than 100 calls from people reporting a gas-like smell in the air across a wide area from Runcorn to Manchester.

“We call this a gas cloud and, as your gas emergency service, we send engineers to check every call to make sure you’re safe.

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“Using very sensitive detection kit, our engineers were quickly able to rule out natural gas.

“You are 100 per cent right to call us if you think you smell gas.

“Yours might be an actual gas leak, unconnected to what everyone else can smell.

“If you think you can smell gas, or suspect carbon monoxide, ring us.

“We think the gas was coming from an industrial site and the strong winds quickly sent the smell far and wide.”