MORE than a thousand staff involved in the supply of gas in the North-East and Yorkshire have been reassured over their futures following a £1.4bn takeover.

Their company, National Grid Transco, was sold last week to consortium Northern Gas Networks Holdings.

It has outsourced the running of the supply network to utility firm United Utilities.

Basil Scarsella, chief executive officer with Northern Gas Networks, said: "The existing gas distribution network that we have bought works extremely well and there are no plans to make sweeping changes.

"Both Northern Gas Networks and United Utilities are very committed to the network and are here for the long-term.

"We have no plans to move the administrative offices for the network - in Sunderland and Leeds - and they remain ideal locations for us."

A total of 1,060 staff were employed by Transco. The network is used by domestic gas suppliers to pipe gas to about 2.4m customers.

Northern Gas has inherited a programme to replace 552km of ageing metal mains in the region in the current financial year at a cost of £69m.

It has also begun a re-branding exercise involving workwear, site offices and vans, but this is expected to take several months to complete.

The national gas emergency free number - 0800 111 999 - is unaffected by the changes.