Keep calm and Gary on ... 50 years at Cadent

Gary White’s career helped shape the modern gas industry and earned him a claim to fame about Coronation Street 

When 16-year-old Gary White joined the gas industry in 1975, the landscape was almost unrecognisable. Back then, Britain was in the final stages of converting from towns gas to natural North Sea gas, a seismic shift in our energy history.

Every town had a gas works or a gas holder, he recalls. Most big towns even had a gas showroom - it was a different world.

Fast forward, and Gary has just celebrated an extraordinary milestone - 50 years with the company. With a wealth of experience and stories to share, two stand out, which he only half-jokingly refers to as his ‘claims to fame’.

I’m partially responsible for how the gas industry is now … and I was also involved in cutting off the gas supply to the original Coronation Street.

Early in his career, he was part of a team that helped negotiate major industrial contracts, a process that would ultimately reshape the entire gas industry.

We were negotiating with Sheffield Forgemasters, he explains.

For some reason, the North West used to negotiate towards the top of the negotiating band and the North East towards the bottom.

They turned around to us and said ‘why do you have to pay more in the North West than we do in the North East?’ So they took us to the Monopolies Commission.

What began as a pricing dispute became a turning point for the entire sector.

The investigation exposed the need for structural reform and eventually led to the separation of British Gas into Transco (which ran the networks) and British Gas Supply (the retail arm).

At the time, it just felt like another meeting, said Gary.

But that Monopolies Commission case started the chain of events that shaped the industry we have today. So yes, I suppose I can claim I helped create modern gas – though definitely not singlehandedly!

His second ‘claim to fame’ involves one of Britain’s most iconic TV shows. Gary was part of the team tasked with cutting off supply to the original Coronation Street.

In those days, the streets from the TV show’s opening credits were part of a real area of Lower Broughton in Salford. The authorities decided to demolish entire streets within this area – known as Salford 7 – to pave the way for urban renewal.

We had to disconnect every service before each house was flattened, Gary remembers. If you watch the old credits, when the camera pans over the rows of back-to-back terraces, that’s the place. We cut off the supply there before it all went.

I remember thinking, everyone in Britain recognises this street from TV, and here we are, turning off the gas.

A life in gas: from apprentice to PMAC engineer

Gary began his career with the North West Gas on the Gas Engineering Technicians Apprenticeship (GETA) - a five-year, all-round introduction to the trade.

You went through every department, he says. Gas fitting, district work, the showrooms, call centres, stores - absolutely everything.

After completing his apprenticeship, he joined industrial and commercial sales, advising large energy users on improving efficiency and cutting costs.

It was work that won his team multiple national Gas Energy Management Awards for innovation and savings.

One of his proudest projects was at Crewe railway works, the home of British Rail engineering. They had massive workshops, all heated with old, inefficient burners, he recalls. We redesigned the heating system and helped them save about 70 per cent in energy. That was huge at the time.

Then there was the train wheel manufacturer that forged the steel tyres used on rolling stock.

They used 1950s gas mixing machines to heat the metal to ‘cherry red’, Gary says. I worked with the burner manufacturer to modernise the design. We cut fuel use by 30 per cent and dropped their failure rate from 70 per cent to four per cent. That saved them a fortune and got us a national Gas Energy Management Award.

Over the years, Gary’s career evolved alongside the industry – from data capture and instrumentation to his current role as a pressure management and control (PMAC) engineer, maintaining and monitoring gas governors and telemetry systems across the network. I’m the one who gets called when something’s not working quite right, he says.

A Family Affair

For Gary, working in gas wasn’t just a job – it was a family tradition.

When I joined, I had two brothers, a sister, two uncles and three cousins all working for North West Gas, he says. I love the fact that I have a pair of wellies from then, in the garage, which still has that name on them!

That tradition continues today. His son also works in the gas industry, carrying on the family legacy. I told him years ago, don’t get stuck in one place — there’s so much variety in this job, Gary says. And it’s true. You never stop learning.

Looking back, Gary’s seen a transformation in how the industry approaches safety. When I started, lads would stand by the hole having a cigarette, he says. Flat caps, suits — it was a different world. Now, safety is a take completely differently, and for good reason. It’s about making sure everyone goes home safely.

Gary’s 50-year milestone arrives as he prepares to retire at Christmas 2025.

It’ll feel strange, he admits. But I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.

Asked what advice he’d give to today’s apprentices, Gary doesn’t hesitate:

Stick with it. The training you get here is second to none. When people hear you trained through British Gas or Cadent, that still means something. It opens doors - and you’ll never be short of interesting work.