Gas street - real life stories of unsafe gas work

Gas Safe Register went to a typical street in London to talk to the residents about how much they know, or don’t know, about gas safety and carbon monoxide (CO) in their homes

Gas Safe Register invited experts along to offer residents advice on how to be gas safe and to raise awareness of the dangers of badly installed, repaired and maintained gas appliances that can lead to CO poisoning.

Billy Wilgar and his team of engineers from A.C Wilgar Plumbing & Heating Specialists, supported by plumbing and heating merchant PTS, checked residents’ gas appliances, identified any problems and put them right. TV’s Dr. Chris Steele was on hand to give advice on the dangers of CO poisoning, the symptoms to recognise and the importance of using a registered engineer. Paul Overton, a father who lost his daughter from CO poisoning and now campaigns for CO-Gas Safety, also visited Gas Street to share his story with residents.

Billy, Dr Chris and Paul share their advice, along with information from Gas Safe Register’s chief executive Pete Eldridge.

Emma, Mickael and Mrs McKie share their experiences.

Emma’s story – the gas fire

“Well, we moved into this house and I felt that one of the things that was really missing was a lovely, warming glowing fire. There was a gas effect fire shop up the road that said it was CORGI registered. And I saw it and thought, ‘oh, that’s fine, she’s just round the corner, I will ask her to come round and assess the situation and our options.

She said ‘that’s absolutely fine, we can fit a gas effect fire’, so she fitted the gas and then she fitted what she called a fan at the back of the chimney as we didn’t actually have a chimney going all the way up the wall.

“What she didn’t tell me was that the fan, when it was fitted was going to be so noisy that I wasn’t going to be able to hear the television. So then she fitted a smaller fan, and in the process of fitting a smaller fan she found that it wasn’t actually pulling away enough of the bad fumes that were caused by the gas effect fire so basically it was impossible to commission.

I didn’t ask to check her credentials as I’d seen that the shop had got CORGI registered stickers in the window so I didn’t feel I had to

"I didn’t ask to check her credentials as I’d seen that the shop had got CORGI registered stickers in the window so I didn’t feel I had to. Well, obviously, with the power of hindsight I would make sure that the person who came through the door was going to give me all the options and I would also make sure that they were registered with the Gas Safe Register.”

Mickael’s story – the boiler behaving badly

“I bought the house back in December and as I moved in I had a look around. I knew I had old appliances and wasn’t entirely sure how they all worked or if they worked properly.

The person who lived here before was a smoker so I had to wash all the window curtains and everything like that. So once all that was done I came down one morning and smelt a bit of gas.But when I walked into the kitchen there wasn’t much a smell and then I came back into the living room here there was a slight odour of gas and I thought, ‘Oh, that’s not good news’.

First advice would be to get hold of an engineer, a Gas Safe Registered engineer to make sure everything’s checked over properly. When they do check it you know you’re going to get a good service and make sure that everything’s done correctly by the time they finished and leave. And ideally do it as early on as possible when moving into the house.

"I made sure I booked an engineer to come out who was CORGI registered at the time (and now obviously it’s changed to Gas Safe). He discovered that the fire on the boiler wasn’t working properly and that there was a slight leak. He took it apart, serviced it and told me for safety reasons to cap the fire off so the fire is no longer working.

First advice would be to get hold of an engineer, a Gas Safe Registered engineer to make sure everything’s checked over properly. When they do check it you know you’re going to get a good service and make sure that everything’s done correctly by the time they finished and leave. And ideally do it as early on as possible when moving into the house.”

Mrs McKie’s story – are you a registered engineer?

“Our old boiler was a very old Potterton and it had packed up after 30 years. So I looked in the Yellow Pages and I saw this advertisement which said CORGI registered dealer.

So, when he came to my house, I told him that I’d had a quote from a local chap. He looked at it and said he could do it cheaper! So I said ‘well, if you're saving me a few hundred pounds, but are you CORGI registered?’ He responded 'Yes I am’, which I thought was fine.

With hindsight, which is often the way I know, I would check not only the engineer who came to do the job but his workmen, and make sure that they were all on the Gas Safe Register.

He turned up one morning with 2 gentlemen with him. I didn’t ask if he was CORGI registered - I just didn’t think of it. I assumed it was alright because the engineer employing him would oversee the work, but I didn’t see the owner as it were until after the work was all finished.

“Well, about 18-20 months later the boiler was playing up so I rang up this engineer.The engineer told me ‘if it’s trouble with the boiler you’re under guarantee from the manufacturer.’ So I called the manufacturer and a gentleman came almost right away and checked out the boiler and said that there was nothing wrong with the boiler, but there are problems with the installation.

“With hindsight, which is often the way I know, I would check not only the engineer who came to do the job but his workmen, and make sure that they were all on the Gas Safe Register.”