Great Bowden Road and Station Road in Great Bowden were closed to traffic, and people in that area were being evacuated from their houses. People said you could smell gas in the town centre.
More importantly, from a purely selfish point of view, the railway line through Market Harborough had been closed. Trains from Leicester to St Pancras were being diverted via Corby.
I left work at 5 sharp, found no sign of the promised rail replacement bus service and caught the scheduled X7 bus instead.
It can't be easy finding buses at the time of the school run, but I know from experience that if I had waited for a rail replacement to be arranged I might still be there now.
Anyway, the Leicester Mercury has the story of the drama as it unfolded.
When I came home from cooking for my mother, the chip shop in Coventry Road was full of triumphant gas men.
