Gas leak

Lyndsay_21

Not sure if this is in the right place but feel free to move anyway Be warned its a long one!!
In my kitchen there is always the faint smell of gas well last year when the guy came to service my boiler etc (i'm in a council flat) i explained to him there was a smell of gas well he checked the pressure and said it was 'within legal limits' well anyway go forward a few months and my mums friend was staying at mine whilst we were away at xmas she could also smell the gas so called out transco ...there findings where that when u turn the gas on to light the oven/grill/hob it lets out a little bit of gas before its ignigted and this creates a build up round the cooker and when you walk past it it disturbs the gas and you can smell it and advised me to get a new cooker.

Well so i bought a new cooker and a guy i know is a corgi registered gas blokey so he came round to fit it today and when he got his gas tester thing out, cos he could smell the gas, the tester thing went crazy and he tried tightening the joins but it was still going crazy. it was only when he actually replaced the pipe theat the tester thing stopped going off so in fact rather than just 'gas buildup' i in fact had a gas leak!!!

Now what do i do obviously i'm furious that transco didn't pick it up as i took it as there word that what they said was right, them being the 'experts' i've phoned up and complained and was fobbed off with the fact cos there not corgi trained then they wouldn't be able to identify the actual problem....well surely thats what they're there for when you report leaks....

Having 2 small (under 5) children i am soooo angry but where do i go from here. please help....

jobbingmusician

There are 2 issues here. The first is the risk issue, and I can't see any way you can win that (but someone else might have a better idea).

The second (and more MSE!) issue is that you have presumably been PAYING for gas to leak out into your home, despite several requests from you to have the system tested. I would write them a letter asking how much of your bill for the time since you first reported a leak they are going to refund you!

Lyndsay_21

Anyone help please...also hopw would i go about asking for money back from energy supplier as i've recently changed and was billed £200 for gas and elec over dec and jan seems very very excessive!!!

elliealfie

We smelt gas Xmas week and called out the emergency number (Transco) one night, they tested it and said it was our hob leaking, and for safety he turned the gas off to the hob from outside and put a big condemmed sticker on the front, (luckily we had an electric oven) - we then got a follow up letter advising us it was illegal to switch it back on (we had kids and would not have done this) - we had to borrow a steamer for Xmas and got a new oven in the Jan sales, but at least we were safe

Was transco the emergency no. or are they your supplier? (they are not our supplier) -as it sounds like he did not do his job properley. You should also have had his report when he left that identified the problem and solution, I would use that if you still have it as evidence that he did not do it right.

Lyndsay_21

no they were not our energy supplier so it was the emergency number. I wasn't actually at my flat when they were called out i was away and my mums friend was house-sitting the transco man never condemmened the cooker but 'advised' me to get a new one. I am just so furious that they didn't spot the leak and the lady i spoke to about my complaint's excuse was that they're just there to 'advise' us!!! Plus the fact of having to spend £300 for a new cooker when the old one was perfectly fine