A HOUSE filled with gas after a 94-year-old widow switched on her cooker in a bid to keep warm.

All three emergency services dashed to the terraced property this morning and opened all the windows amid fears that the leak could cause an explosion.

The pensioner, who has lived in the house all her life, was taken to Southampton General Hospital.

A police spokesman said: “An elderly woman rang to say her home was 'full of gas' and said she was having problems turning it off.

“She couldn't say how long it had been going on so we don't know how much gas was in the property. But we always take things like this very seriously because gas is highly explosive.”

The emergency services were called to a row of five Grade II listed houses in Rumbridge Street, Totton, just after 8.30am.

No-one was evacuated but Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service confirmed that windows in the pensioner's home were flung open to ventilate the property.

A South Central Ambulance Service spokesman added: “We were called to an incident involving gas in a property and a woman in her 90s was taken to hospital.”