Halton residents warned of dangers as one in six homes in north west found to have unsafe gas appliance

Explosions, fires and carbon monoxide poisoning could have killed residents as one in six properties have been found to have an unsafe gas appliance.

The figures have been published today to mark the start of gas safety week.

The research carried out among Gas Safe registered engineers revealed that more than half found a dangerous gas boiler, cooker or fire in a customer’s home in the last year that needed turning off immediately.

Around half of these dangerous appliances were attributed to the fact that people had failed to get their gas appliance regularly serviced and had been left in a poor state.

Tony Preston, a registered gas engineer, said: “I was called out to a family home after they had problems with a new boiler. When I arrived I immediately had to turn off the appliance as it was dangerously installed.

“ The homeowners thought they had used a registered engineer, but it turned out to be someone working illegally who could have put their family’s lives at risk. The installer was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive for dangerous gas work. He was lucky he didn’t hurt anyone.”

Gas Safe Register has inspected 12,882 homes across the north west in the past four years and found unsafe gas appliances lurking in one in six homes.

Russell Kramer, chief executive for Gas Safe Register, said: “Over the past three years there’s been 31 deaths and over 1,000 injuries that have resulted from gas related incidents.”

To find a Gas Safe registered engineer and for further gas safety advice visit GasSafeRegister.co.uk or call 0800 408 5500