Reasons NOT to ring the Gas Emergency Service

Pssst

I guess most of you are familiar the the National Gas Emergency service?

Its number is 0800 111 999.

Now then. A Gas Emergency to them is a sitation where someone smells gas,suspects fumes or has reason to suspect that a situation exists which involves unburnt or burnt gas which,if it continues,could present a risk to life and/or property. So then it is an EMERGENCY service.

Now youve all heard of tales of people ringing the ambulance service becuase their condom has split or they have a headache? Its an abuse isnt it? All emergency services have limited resources and are there for emergencies. Usually if its in the middle of the night,it could involve some poor sod being turned out of his or her bed to come and see you.

Bearing this in mind,here are some reasons NOT to ring the gas emergency service;

(1) Your heating/cooker/fire/other appliance has stopped working

(2) Youve just moved into a new LA/HA property and the gas isnt switched on. Speak to your landlord.

(3) You cant afford to have your appliances serviced/repaired

(4) You have a water leak

(5) Your prepayment meter has run out of money

(6) Your prepayment meter is faulty/says call help/says battery fail. Ring your gas supplier directly.

(7) Your pilot light has gone out and you cant relight it

(8) You dont know how to work your central heating programmer/boiler/room thermostat

(9) You are very lonely and want someone to talk to at 0200 in the morning. Speak to your family,friends or ring the Samaritans.

(10) You need a lift somewhere or a jump start for your car. Ring a taxi company /The AA/The RAC

(11) you want an appliance disconnecting but are too tight to ring an independant CORGI engineer to undertake the work. National Grid Engineers normally disconnect and seal supplies at the meter so you will then have no supply to your whole house.

Everyone should know how to turn their gas supply off at the meter. If you dont know,find out. If you do suspect a leak or hazard,it would assist greatly if you turn the gas off at the meter and confirm this to the call taker at the emergency control centre.

:beer:

spiro

Just to add, if you do smell gas don't turn anything electrical on or off as this can cause a spark and it may end up a very bright one.

moonrakerz

Pssst wrote: »

Bearing this in mind,here are some reasons NOT to ring the gas emergency service;

(1) Your heating/cooker/fire/other appliance has stopped working

Funny you should mention that............

Last year when I had finished renovating a house I couldn't get any of the gas appliances to work. I asked my neighbour if his gas was OK, it was. He then mentioned that the gas board had dug a hole in the pavement outside the previous week.
I rang British Gas to find out what they had been up to, perhaps they had turned my gas off in the street ?

Within 30 mins I had the emergency crew on site ! because I had the exact opposite of a leak - namely no gas at all !

They had been sent out by the call centre and were fully aware of my problem. When they had a look the pressure regulator on the meter had failed - safe: they replaced it and everything worked again.

Good service - eh !

Pssst

Yes indeed,that is good service and shows what can happen when they get genuine calls instead of all the stuff that has nothing to do with them. By appliances not working i meant that there was gas there but the appliance wasnt working. Did you know that some people ring and report that they have "no gas" and yet it can clearly be demonstrated by the turning on of the cooker,that they do indeed have gas. What they mean is,my heating isnt working,i dont want to spend money on getting it fixed, I'll turn some poor sod out of his bed in the middle of the night or late on and maybe he /she will fix it for free and then i can go back to bed all snug and warm whilst he freezes his nads off and goes home blearly eyed.

daveuns

Pssst wrote: »

(6) Your prepayment meter is faulty/says call help/says battery fail. Ring your gas supplier directly.

Actually, having had a pre-payment meter in one of my old homes, you do have to call Transco (or whoever it is now) to fix this. I was directed to them by my energy supplier when it happend, and was told to use the emergency number.

SwanJon

daveuns wrote: »

Actually, having had a pre-payment meter in one of my old homes, you do have to call Transco (or whoever it is now) to fix this. I was directed to them by my energy supplier when it happend, and was told to use the emergency number.

This would have been a while back.
What was Transco has now been split up -
The National Gas Emergency Service doesn't deal with meters, just emergencies as above
National Grid Metering own most of the gas meters in the country, but will need your supplier to send them round. If your PP meter says anything unusual call your supplier - they should deal with everything from there on, and not ask you to phone someone else.

Canucklehead

Hi

Add to that someone who wants their gas fire capped but is to tight to pay someone to do it.http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1260147 Post # 3

Corgi Guy.

PS. If they don't find a leak (ie; no pressure drop) they won't cap off, so don't bother.

Pssst

Thanks Canucklhead,I'll add that to my list...

Gman0365

I'd also ask that if you are going to phone the National Gas Emergency Service that you do so when you first notice the problem. If the carbon monoxide alarm starts to beep at lunchtime, don't wait until 2am to pick up the phone! That is one sure-fire way to have you're installation "made safe"!

apurplemind

Also when I worked at Transco the response time was 2hours for a controlled escape and 1 hour for an uncontrolled one. The rest of the safety messages (besides leaving electrical appliances alone) was no smoking or striking any matches, open doors/windows to ventilate the property and allow immediate access to the engineer (including not using electrically operated doors).

A

Gman0365

That safety advise is great. Unfortunately the call handlers at the emergency call centre take little notice of whether the customer has actually understood the advice as they are reading from a script. It makes it very easy to find a property at night as its always the one with all the doors and windows wide open with all the lights turned off as the customer thinks they have been told to turn everything off!