Gas leak

Badgergal

Last August I discovered a leak and Transco (or whatever they are these days) cut my gas off. My plumber came and ran new copper pipes to the cooker and boiler (the old ones were in the floor). Well, actually his apprentice/trainee did it, but I was assured he would do a good job, it would just take him a bit longer. He came and checked the work after.

Today a guy who'd come to install a meter detected another leak. He cut the gas off. I rang the original plumber but he's abroad at the moment. So I paid £90 for another guy to come and detect where it was coming from. He said it is coming from an awkward-to-get-to joint next to the boiler flue, which means it will take a couple of hours to fix because the flue is in the way and needs to come out. It is a joint in the new pipes that is leaking.

Seriously, 10 months is not very long for a brand new gas pipe/joint to spring a leak, is it? There's some dodgy soldering or something going on there, right? I called back the original plumber and told him that the problem was in the pipes he fitted and I wanted him to come back and check out his work when we get back from Norfolk (we're going camping tomorrow so it can't be fixed before we get back now anyway) and he said he would.

Can I demand he fixes this for free? (The original guy, not the latest one - the latest one could have done it tomorrow, for a price, but we're away then).