Gas Leak after Safety Check

JAYMARSH2005

Hi All

I had my Gas Cap removed off my gas meter in a housing assocation flat on the 8th November, they did all the safety checks and passed it all giving me a copy of the safety inspection form, that night I had a slight headache and went to bed but in the morning my head was pounding and felt sick and dizzy, I couldnt get a doctors appointment so just took pain killers and stayed in bed, I thought nothing about the gas meter until that evening, I couldnt smell gas at the time, but it is a pre pay meter and because the credit wasnt going down fast or the meter reading wasnt going round constantly i thought it couldnt be a leak, I went to bed again and hoepd I would recover, the next morning I felt worse, head killing, vomiting and very dizzy, I called a friend who came round and he said he could smell gas so I phoned up the emergancy number straight away and they came out within 10 mins, straight away they said I had a gas leak and it was coming from the meter due to a old chewed up broken washer on one of the pipes and it needed replacing which he did, I was subjected to gas for about 56 hours and because I am out of work I was in the flat for the full time subjected to it, it took 5 days for me to feel better, is there anything I can do to claim compensation or sue ?? I have wrote a letter to the Dodd Group who carried out the safety check and passed the meter as safe. stating my life and health have been put in danger

Thanks in advance for anyone who can help.

cbrpaul

poppyriley wrote: »

natural gas wont make you feel bad. Youll get no compensation. next

so if we stuck you in a room with windows and doors shut , placed a 28mm gas supply pipe into the room ,fed it with natural gas , you wont feel sick atall ?

caveat_emptor

This couldn't be more serious but my guess is that you can only sue if it has caused you permanent damage to your health. Who knows what damage this cowboy will do next? To work on gas the fitter should be Gas Safe registered. I took a quick look at the Gas safe website but couldn't see any Dodd Group on it. Report it to your local Trading Standards anyway, but you'll need a receipt from the guy that fixed it with a note of work done.
As for poppyriley, I think it might make you feel bad if you lit a match.

jd87

cbrpaul wrote: »

so if we stuck you in a room with windows and doors shut , placed a 28mm gas supply pipe into the room ,fed it with natural gas , you wont feel sick atall ?

This isn't what happened though. You are obviously taking about a large enough flow of gas to displace the Oxygen from the room, but with a small leak from a washer this effect would negligible.

OP - I'm afraid the science is against you here. Exposure to Natural Gas does not have any bad effects on your health. Your illness simply must have been caused by something else.

(Just to be clear - the type of gas that does make you ill is called Carbon Monoxide and it is produced by faulty devices which actually burn gas, like a fire, cooker or boiler. A leaking meter does not produce Carbon Monoxide).

Gman0365

It sounds to me like the engineer doing the safety check has re-used the washer that was on the sealing disc on the meter outlet. Sadly a very common practice. The washer should have been inspected and replaced if worn, not re-used.

Report the incident to Gas Safe Register who should investigate - www.gassaferegister.co.uk

As for compensation, you'd have to provide medical evidence to suggest that negligence on the part of Dodd Group lead to feeling ill. I assume you didn't visit a GP. Other posters are correct, Natural Gas is just that, natural! Although it will not poison you it can lead to asphyxiation. Many people complain that a gas leak can make them feel ill. Perhaps it is just because they are not used to odourant in the gas. It will not have caused you any long term damage.

lemontart

natural gas it's self does not normally make you ill, though the odour is awful and in some may trigger a headache or make you feel sick, I would suggest though you do seek medical advise as what you describe are related to co.

It would also be worth investing in a co detector for your home.

Are you better now?

bengasman

Nice try, but I wouldn't pursue it if I were you as you run the risk of being charged with perjury if you testified in court, which is a rather serious crime.
Natural gas is not toxic and the symptoms you have listed are for something else which is vaguely related but that's where it stops. You either had a totally different and unrelated medical problem, or more likely, I suspect trying to jump on the "let's sue somebody" bandwagon. Any expert witness worth his keep would expose you in less than an hour as a fraud if my suspicion is correct.