HUNDREDS of people in York and Ryedale are set to benefit with the introduction of a new gas maintenance service.

Ryedale Housing Association, based in York and Malton, now employs its own gas engineers and support staff to service its 2,500 customers.

The association's parent organisation, the Yorkshire Housing Group, has taken over a former gas maintenance supplier to ensure tenants have a reliable and efficient team to call on.

Geoff Hill, gas safety manager for Yorkshire Housing, said: "Taking on an existing successful team means that our engineers and support staff already know many of their customers and are also familiar with the appliances they will be working on.

"Staff will all be working with a common goal to do their best for Yorkshire Housing customers."

The only changes are a new free phone number and new uniforms and vans for the engineers.

Updated: 10:57 Wednesday, July 16, 2003