Carbon Monoxide Poisoning due to neglegence!

em.chid

Mysel and my partner own our own home and have a 15 month old daughter. Before christmas our heating stopped working, we got a British Gas engineer out on 21st December and was told that the pipes had frozen up, he checked the boiler (back boiler) and told us that it was unsafe and he condemmed it. He told us that they wouldnt be able to fix it until 5th January as they dont have the part - leaving us with no heating or hot water for 2 weeks! We was all ill over the christmas period and put it down to the flu that was going around but on 29th December i smelt gas in the kitchen. National Grid came out and cut off the supply and told us to get British Gas out. My partner did ring them but was told that they wouldnt be out until the next day, My dad rang them as we was to ill to argue and told them that they had to come out that day as we have a little child. They did come out and the engineer found that the previous engineer had not tightened up the gas pipe properly - GAS HAD BEEN LEAKING INTO THE HOUSE FOR 1 WEEK. We then realised that we didnt have flu and went to the hospital to be checked and and was all told that we had carbon monoxide poisoning.

Do we have a claim against Britich Gas and how long to claims take to go through?

muckybutt

Natural / Household gas wont give you co poisoning ! you only get co poisoning from burning fossil fuels ie gas.

It would be the first gas engineers responsibility to ensure that your installation was left in a safe condition, he had duty of care to you. Because he hadnt that renders him / british gas liable, but proving it will be a different ball game, have you anything in writing from the second engineer that called ? stating what his findings were.

Back to the co poisoning, do you have a gas cooker ? that is a source of co and if its not burning correctly it could well be that - that is poisoning you, if you do have one stop using it straightaway and get it checked.

em.chid

I dont know the exact technicals of it but it was leaking from the pipe from the back boiler which is attached to a gas fire that was leaking. The second engineer left paperwork saying that and the first engineer signed the fires off as safe??

magicuk

a gas leak wouldnt give you co poisoning. i would try and get some compensation on the time youve been with out heating though.

em.chid

when we went to the hospital we was all given oxygen therapy due to carbon monoxide poisoning ??

Valli

yes but GAS is not CARBON MONOXIDE (CO)

In order for you to get carbon monoxide poisoning the GAS must have been lit (burning) and if there is insufficient AIR in the room or a problem with whatever appliance was burning the gas then the by-product of the fuel (the gas) being burnt would be Carbon Monoxide.

Safe appliances burn gas and give off, as a waste product, carbon dioxide (CO2) if there is insuffient air (which contains oxygen, which is the O or the O2) the waste product is CO (carbon monoxide).

What you really need to do, as a matter of urgency, is establish which appliances are producing the CO. If, for instance, a gas fire gives off a sooty flame that can be a sign.

You might wish to invest in a carbon monoxide detector. But whatever did cause the carbon monoxide poisoning it wasn't leaking gas.

LINK

muckybutt

Do you have a gas cooker ?

With that report from the second engineer then I would certainly contact a solicitor, that combined with any medical reports you can get from the hospital will also add to a claim being made against BG.

em.chid

we had the fire on which had the leaking pipe - would that make CO?

and yes we do have a gas cooker?

Cardew

Apart from the accurate replies above, you would surely smell gas on 21 Dec as you did on 29th Dec.

Also you say that the fire was condemned but you also say you had the 'fire on'.???

Again, as stated above, any appliance that burns gas can produce carbon monoxide when faulty; but it wouldn't be caused by a leaking pipe - your house would have exploded first!

oldandhappy

Cardew wrote: »

Apart from the accurate replies above, you would surely smell gas on 21 Dec as you did on 29th Dec.

Also you say that the fire was condemned but you also say you had the 'fire on'.???

Again, as stated above, any appliance that burns gas can produce carbon monoxide when faulty; but it wouldn't be caused by a leaking pipe - your house would have exploded first!

Maybe because of no heating etc the situation would have been really stressfull and the Op is looking for some kind of reasoning...My daughter was moving in a house near ours last June and the first thing we smelt was gas...can you imagine the stress that caused...it turned out the gas leak had proved to have been there for many months..how the previous owners lived with it I have no idea...but having that situation is horrenous so in stress all kinds of reactions are flying about. Dianne

Valli

em.chid wrote: »

we had the fire on which had the leaking pipe - would that make CO?

and yes we do have a gas cooker?

if the fire itself was not burning the gas supply properly then the CO could have been caused by the fire - not the leaking pipe.

TBH I would get a registered contractor in to check ALL your gas appliances BEFORE any of them are used again.

I have my gas fire serviced annually and I don't even LIGHT the thing more than 5 times a year, the room it's in is so warm - but I still have it checked! I have kids (well teenagers) in the house - if they light the fire when I'm not in (ie when the central heating is off) I want them safe. But I am also aware of how a faulty appliance 'burns'.
It used to be an issue for rented properties - so much so that legislation was brought in to ensure that appliances (I believe Ascot water heaters were a particular problem) are serviced regularly and to advise tenants to check servicing had been done.
Make sure you've read the HSE advice in my previous link.