Marylebone Lane in Westminster was shut down as police and emergency services attended a gas leak on Friday morning (November 17).

Metropolitan Police was called to an address in Marylebone Lane, Westminster, at 11.41am.

London Fire Brigade confirmed it was called to the scene at 12.01pm, and remained on standby while the incident was dealt with.

Some businesses and restaurants in the bustling central London street were evacuated as a precaution, while staff in others were told to remain inside and stop admitting customers.

Hatem Aly, manager of the Comptoir Libanais restaurant in Marylebone Lane, said: "Staff were told to stay inside the restaurant and not to let customers in at around 12.30pm."

He added: "We remained in lock down until 2.30pm when we were told it was safe to reopen."

Picture from the scene of gas leak

Cadent Gas, which is in charge of maintaining the gas mains, released this statement to getwestlondon : "Cadent is currently dealing with a gas escape in Marylebone Lane, London, we were called shortly before 11.30am this morning (Friday).

“A low pressure gas main has been damaged by a third party and a number of properties in the vicinity have been evacuated.

Emergency services are at Marylebone Lane following a suspected gas leak

“We are working with the emergency services to resolve the situation as soon as possible.”

At 3pm police confirmed the leak had been dealt with and the affected roads had reopened.

Metropolitan Police tweeted: "Roads are now reopened following an earlier gas leak in Marylebone Lane.

"Emergency services are now leaving the scene and the area has been declared as safe."

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