Council house tenants have been warned against using portable gas-powered heaters indoors - months after a huge explosion ripped through a row of houses.

Two people were left with life-changing injuries after the blast, sparked by a portable heater, ripped through homes in Mill View, Willesborough, back in May.

Now, as winter approaches, Ashford Borough Council (ABC) has written to its renters reminding them that portable gas heaters are banned from indoors under the terms of their tenancy agreement.

The council has about 5,100 residential properties on its books, roughly 10% of all homes in the borough, and it ensures that all gas appliances it owns are safety checked by an expert each year.

But the local authority has warned of the dangers posed by poorly-maintained appliances that tenants may bring into their properties themselves.

An ABC spokesman said: "What happened at Mill View is a reminder of the potential dangers involved in using bottled gas appliances in the home, which adds more weight to the advice given."

In all, four properties - three of which were owned by ABC - had to be pulled down following the explosion and subsequent fire that left the block uninhabitable.

At the time of the incident, which happened just before 8am on May 4, Ethel Hanford, 99, and her son Donald, 75, were living in the home that housed the heater.

They were rescued by heroic builder Andy Hodges and his son Harry and were treated at the William Harvey Hospital along with three others.

The two people who suffered serious injuries lived next to the Hanfords and were airlifted to hospital in London.

In July, a family fun day held at the William Harvey pub in Church Road raised more than £1,000 for the victims of the explosion.