Post date: Jan 23, 2013 3:47:48 PM
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN SAYING:
"It just smelled like dirt to me, dirty, greasy smell, sort of sweaty." UNIDENTIFIED MEN SAYING:
"Smelly trainers, yeah, it could be, yeah."
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN SAYING:
".. my housemate thought it smelled like fish, it just didn't smell very nice, it was really like, mwah."
The culprit... a chemical factory in France that sprung a leak sending a noxious, but harmless, cloud of gas into southern England.
At first residents didn't know what it was.
KENT FIRE AND RESCUE AREA MANAGER, MARTIN ADAMS, SAYING:
" It is actually a substance called mercaptan which is a stenching agent that is put into gas, normal domestic gas supplies that you receive in your home, to indicate that there may be a gas leak of some kind, so you can actually smell the gas."
The French plant makes industrial lubricants and paint and said work is underway to contain the fumes , although the process could take hours or even days to complete.