A family had a lucky escape when their kitchen collapsed into the cellar, severing a gas main and forcing neighbours to be evacuated.

The drama began when tenant Robert Burgoyne noticed a crack in the wall of the 17th century home at The Bank, Eccleshill, last night.

A builder was called out and he told Mr Burgoyne, who lives at the house with his wife Sharon and children Ian, Hayley and Mark, to leave the house immediately and call the police.

The kitchen floor collapsed into the cellar, causing a gas leak and forcing neighbours to be evacuated as gas supplier Transco tried to seal the pipe at 10pm.

About 20 neighbours were evacuated by Bradford's Emer-gency Planning department as a precaution. Evacuees were given accommodation until they were allowed back into their homes at about 11.15pm when a building inspector declared the house safe.

Mr Burgoyne said: "I am grateful to the landlord for getting the builder out because we could have been sitting in the kitchen having tea when the floor fell in."

He said his wife "was in tears" over the disaster and the family had spent the night with relatives.

"I had been pumping water out of the cellar for the last few weeks and digging down to find where the problem was coming from," he said.

"I hadn't touched it last night, though, but it just collapsed. Now we have to wait for the owner to sort out the problem and see when we can go back to live there. In the meantime, we are living all over the place."

A neighbour, who did not want to be named, said: "I was just coming from work and the police came and asked us to evacuate.

"They thought it was some kind of gas leak. They didn't go into any detail."

James Ruane, of Transco, said: "Water had been pumped out of the cellar and the floor above had then collapsed. The stone flags snapped an internal pipe which then began to blow out gas. The residents evacuated the property themselves. We cut the service off and made it safe within half an hour."