Family's 'lucky escape' after 'severe' carbon monoxide levels found coming from heater

A Leicester family experienced a “lucky escape” after carbon monoxide was found in their home. Sana Ahmad and her family of six were alerted when their carbon monoxide alarm began beeping.

After calling an emergency gas service Cadent following the discovery on Sunday, September 29, she was told to “evacuate the room” and to let air into the house. An engineer arrived shortly after to find carbon monoxide in the home and a gas leak, leading to the gas supply being turned off.

The carbon monoxide in the home was “due to a gas heater” and the gas leak was “at the gas meter”, a Cadent spokesman said, as the organisation revealed the news and issued a warning today, during Carbon Monoxide Awareness Week. Engineers who returned the following day to check the home and its appliances described the level of carbon monoxide caused by the heater as “severe” and that the consequences could have been far worse.

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Sana, a pre-school manager at Wesley Hall, in Spinney Hills, said that the family often “felt tired”, and that "obviously, when this happened, we were so concerned about what the issue was".

She said: "When we found out that this was carbon monoxide, as a family of six, this was deeply distressing.”

The gas supply to the heater was turned off and the family are now coping without it. At the time of the incident, she was given two electric heaters, an electric hob and supplied with £90 worth of food vouchers by Cadent. Her gas meter was also replaced and the leak fixed.

She said: “This was a lucky escape. We have been in the property for over four years and nothing has changed since the previous occupant. Without Cadent’s support, who knows where we might be.”

Since the ordeal, Sana is urging everyone to get a carbon monoxide alarm and to access available support. She received her alarm from Wesley Hall, which is a Cadent Centre for Warmth.

Her story comes as Cadent revealed that it had seen a "significant increase” in suspected carbon monoxide (CO) incidents in Leicester. Its engineers responded to 1001 CO-related jobs in Leicester in 2023/24 – a 32 per cent increase compared to the previous year. Only one other location in the East Midlands has recorded higher statistics than Leicester. There are around 40 deaths attributed to CO poisoning in England and Wales every year, as exposure to carbon monoxide can cause serious health issues.

Richard Sanson, East Midlands network director for Cadent, said: “On the one hand, it is encouraging that people are contacting the gas emergency service if they suspect carbon monoxide. It is exactly the right thing to do, to ring 0800 111 999 immediately.

“However, we are also concerned that this is further evidence of another worrying trend. We commissioned research this year which told us that almost 30 per cent of people are only getting their boilers serviced every two years, or less often than that. This is a big worry – I can’t stress enough just how important it is to get your boiler serviced every year. You can’t smell carbon monoxide, and you can’t see, taste or hear it.

“An annual safety check, by a Gas Safe-registered engineer is your best way to protect you and your family. Hearing Sana’s powerful story really does bring this issue to life, and I am so pleased that her and her family are safe and well now.

“As a business, we are proud of the work that we do to protect our communities and so where we can help, we always will.” Cadent said it had invested £3.6m in 2023/24 on carbon monoxide education and awareness campaigns, including “award-winning activities” for schools.

Cadent-funded classroom-based programmes reached more than 120,000 children last year, it claimed.

What is carbon monoxide and how to protect against it?

• Carbon monoxide is a poisonous gas that can come from anything which burns carbon-based fuels, such as gas, oil, wood or petrol.

• It poses a serious threat to health if exposure occurs and, each year, there are around 40 deaths in England and Wales from carbon monoxide poisoning.

• Symptoms are often mistaken for flu or hangover, as they are similar – including headache, nausea, dizziness, breathlessness, collapse and loss of consciousness.

• Other signs that CO may be present are that a gas flame burning orange-yellow, instead of blue; the pilot light frequently going off; excess condensation in rooms with gas appliances; and soot/yellow-brown staining around an appliance.

• Carbon monoxide alarms are recommended for every room where there is such a fuel burning appliance.

• These must be tested regularly, and check that they remain in date (there will be a date printed on the alarm, to indicate when it should be replaced).

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