The French stench! Kent residents inundate fire brigade after foul-smelling cloud from factory gas leak crosses Channel

HERE By Jill Reilly and Chris Brooke 22 January 2013

Last night experts said the cloud, made up of methyl mercaptan gas, posed no threat to public health although it could cause nausea in some people.

Mercaptan has a sulphurous smell and is added to odourless natural gas as a safety precaution.

A spokesman for the Health Protection Agency said: ‘It is not toxic and has also been diluted before entering the air over England, so people should be reassured it will cause no harm.

‘It is an unpleasant odour which may cause some people to feel slightly nauseous but it will dispel naturally.’

Lubrizol’s operations director Pierre-Jean Payrouse admitted the gas smelled ‘very bad’.

He told French radio that the plant was trying to contain the problem but the cause remained unknown.

He said: ‘It’s not so much a leak as a product that has decomposed, which smells very bad and which is escaping.

‘An investigation is under way but our priority is to deal with the problem.’

The cloud was not only a headache for Britain.

A French Cup soccer match between Rouen and Olympique Marseille had to be postponed and some Rouen residents have complained of migraines.

The fire brigade in the county of Kent, warned residents to keep their doors and windows closed due to a gas cloud it believed had come from France and London police said it had reports of an acrid smell in southeast London.

London’s Metropolitan Police tweeted: ‘We are aware of reports of a strong, noxious, gas-like smell in some South East London boroughs. No risks to public.’

London Fire Brigade tweeted: ‘We’ve been called to 25 gas incidents since 10.30am. The rotten egg smell is coming from France but has no risk to public #zutalors’

Hastings resident Lucy Parker, 27, said: ‘It is totally disgusting and makes you wretch.’