An unidentified smell that hovered in the air above several streets in Maidstone could have been caused by a ship in the channel.

Residents in Salisbury Road, Lower Boxley Road, Waterlow Road, Hardy Street and Well Road contacted gas company SGN at 2pm on Sunday after smelling what they thought was gas and fearing a leak.

But engineers who rushed to the town could find no sign of a leak and left without carrying out any work.

SGN staff told several homeowners the smell could have been the result of a “gas cloud”.

When we approached SGN and asked for an explanation, a spokesman said: “The term gas cloud is often used when there’s an unidentified smell in the air.

'It potentially comes from all sorts of sources including ships venting their holds,' SGN spokesman

"Often it turns out not to be natural gas and potentially comes from all sorts of sources including industrial processes and ships venting their holds while in the channel."

She added: “We were called out in our capacity as the National Gas Emergency Service to a number of streets in Maidstone, following reports of a smell of gas, on Sunday.

“Our engineers arrived quickly and carried out safety checks. They confirmed the smell in the air was unrelated to our gas network and left the site shortly after.”

Residents said the smell had gone by late Sunday afternoon.