The Gas Safe Register
Today brings us terribly sad news as a one year old baby suffers carbon monoxide poisoning at the hands of a lettings agent not doing what they were supposed to!
The story goes as far back as January when the property initially fell victim to a gas leak caused by an old gas fire. After months of asking the lettings agent to replace it, the baby and single mother were left with what they thought at the time could potentially be dangerous...
Having purchased a carbon monoxide alarm for their own sake, the alarm went off in the early hours of last Saturday as the mother explained:
“I heard the alarm and went to check that Jack was alright, but he seemed lethargic.
So I took him to hospital and found out he had carbon monoxide poisoning. We were in the room together as we both needed treatment"
Imagine this happened to you. A lot of the time when we hear about this sort of thing we assume it must be something the residents did by accident, this simply wasn't the case. The poor mother asked several times to have the gas fire replaced but they're reason for not doing so was that the carpet would be too expensive to replace! Really?!
Jessica (The Baby's Mother) went on to explain her experience with the old gas fire:
“I turned it on and not long after this both of us started to feel unwell.
I left for a while but when I came back the house smelled of gas.
“The pipe had split all the way down and Jacksons sent a repair man but they didn’t replace it, they put paste over it.”
Having stopped using the gas fire due to concerns regarding the gas leak, Jessica said she had to turn it on Friday night after her baby was cold. It was shortly after that the carbon monoxide triggered the alarm.
What's even more alarming is the fact that after making the decision to move out for the weekend, the lettings agent had no weekend contact number in case of emergencies like this. After eventually getting through to the manager, they shut off her electricity and gas and told Jessica it would be fine if she opened all windows.
A spokesman for the Lettings Agent said
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“We take such matters extremely seriously and have already created an incident file and the matter will be carefully investigated.
Should the investigation show any shortcomings in our procedures then we will learn from the process and adapt our procedures accordingly.
“However, our procedures are already very stringent and in accordance with current regulations.”
If you detect a gas leak the number you need to call is 0800 111 999. If you feel your gas appliances need looking at please don't delay calling a Gas Safe Registered Engineer who has undergone ACS Exams and successfully completed relevant Gas Courses.
Is it worth it? NO. The lettings agent really should have known better!