A HOUSE in Abertillery had to be evacuated last night after a car crashed into a gas main.

Residents of a house in Crown Street, near the Crown Inn, were told to leave their home as a precaution at around 5.45pm after a collision between two vehicles saw one of them spin and hit a gas main, causing a leak.

Steve Olsen, 35, and his brother Chris Statham, 30, arrived minutes after the crash and said one of the cars, a green Ford Focus had been travelling up the one-way street before it collided with a red car and span round, hitting the gas main.

Emergency services and Transco engineers attended to cap the gas supply and Gwent Police cordoned off the surrounding streets.

A spokeswoman for South Wales Fire and Rescue Service confirmed that crews from Abertillery and Ebbw Vale attended and one man was taken to hospital.

UPDATE 8.31pm: Everyone has now returned to their homes and the gas leak has been capped