When it came to averting a potential disaster at a primary school, this special gas engineer sniffed out the source of the problem.
Midge the spaniel is the newest, and by far the cutest, member of the team working the streets of Yorkshire to detect possible problems.
A police-trained sniffer dog, Midge is employed by Northern Gas Networks to sniff out gas leaks.
His uncanny sense of smell recently helped engineers pinpoint a gas leak on Burley Road in Leeds, where gas had found its way into the local primary school.
Midge found the leak, allowing the engineers to repair the pipe over a weekend, avoiding any disruption to the school.
Northern Gas Networks engineer Brad Metcalf said the dog was quicker at finding leaks than a member of staff with a bit of kit: “Midge was an absolute superstar. He found the leak almost immediately, allowing us to dig down and repair the pipe.
“Without Midge’s help, it would have taken us a lot longer to find the precise point where gas was escaping.
“When we first starting using Midge out on the network, I think there were a few raised eyebrows, but now he is just another member of the team.
"He is brilliant at this job, and saves us a lot of time.”
Midge’s handler, Steve Foster, a former police dog handler, said: “Dogs have an incredible sense of smell, believed to be around 5,000 times better than humans.
“Midge loves working with Northern Gas Networks, and is out on the network almost every week, helping the engineers to find and fix gas leaks.”
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