A PRIMARY school in Bradford has been forced to close early as it has no gas. 

Ben Rhydding Primary School, in Bolling Road, Ilkley has been forced to shut today "in the interests of pupil welfare".

The announcement was made on Bradford Council's school closure page at 10.54am this morning.

The reason given is because the school has "no gas due to a major incident in Ben Rhydding" and there is "no ability to heat the school building".

A spokesperson for the school said it has a "legal obligation" to keep the school above a certain temperature and so has decided to close.

Parents have been asked to collect their children as soon as they can and at the latest by 1pm.

Full announcement

"The school has no gas due to major incident in Ben Rhydding meaning buildings in the area have no ability to heat the school building.

"In the interests of pupil welfare and following our legal obligation to keep the school above a certain temperature, we have decided to close.

"All parents to collect their children as soon as reasonably possible and at the latest by 1pm."

Northern Gas Networks said: "Engineers from Northern Gas Networks are on site in Ilkley this morning investigating reports of poor gas pressure.

"This may be affecting the performance of gas appliances.

"As our teams work to understand the cause of the poor pressure, we’ll be sharing updates throughout this morning."