Legal Action

If you think you may have been poisoned by CO or other products of combustion you may need proof of this either to use in a legal case or just to convince your doctor or family that you haven't been imagining your symptoms, (which could have been and/or are continuing to be quite severe). The most reliable way is to test your appliances. Of course if you suspect any appliance you should get out of the house or accommodation and ring the Gas Emergency Service Tel. 0800 111999 and they will come and turn off your appliance and/or gas supply. However, the Gas Emergency Service does NOT carry or use any equipment to test for CO or other products of combustion. To obtain an investigation of your appliances (and we suggest that the air you breathe for example, at work, in your car etc. should also be tested) you will need an expert.

Most charge about £1500 (e.g. CORGI Tel. 012563 72200). You may have a landlord or a CORGI installer who wants your permission to put the appliance right. If you want to be able to prove CO, do not let anyone touch your appliance until you have had an investigating expert test for CO and other products of combustion. If the police or HSE are involved you will have to allow their expert to investigate. HSE will disclose their factual report of the investigation if you request it, but only after any prosecution has taken place. This means you may not receive this report for some years so it is wise to have both experts present at the same time so you can receive your own report straightaway. A private report will incur considerable costs but this will probably be your only chance of finding out how much CO you were exposed to and why.


Criminal Proceedings

Only the Crown Prosecution Service can prosecute an imprisonable offence in these cases, (after a police investigation). There have been seven successful prosecutions for manslaughter by gross negligence against landlords and fitters with resulting terms of imprisonment, (from 9 months suspended to 5 years immediate) with regard to the deaths of Sonja Hyams (Nov. 1996), Paul Foster (Feb. 1996), Catherine Walsh (Feb. 1997), Mohammed Ali (Apr. 1998), Christopher Woffenden (Feb 1999) and Michael Frosdick with Keith Reynolds (Mar 2003). The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) can only prosecute offences for which the only punishment is a fine in these cases.


Civil Proceedings

If you have suffered personal injury as a result of Carbon Monoxide (CO) poisoning, consider bringing a civil legal action against your landlord and/or gas fitter etc. This will hopefully deter him/her from causing CO poisoning to others as well as providing you with some recompense.

You will need:
- A good solicitor. Energywatch (Tel. 0207 7998341), has a list supplied by CO-Gas Safety and we can send you this list. You may be eligible for Legal Aid or you could try a 'no win, no fee' basis, (personal injuries). 'No win, no fee' can be a helpful way to proceed but remember that lawyers usually cherry pick the easiest to prove and best cases. You may have to pay quite a lot for an insurance policy against losing. This way of payment will also cover:-
- An expert engineer's report. Do NOT rely on the report which may be prepared by the Health and Safety Executive, as whatever you are told, this report is privileged and you are extremely unlikely to receive it. If HSE is undertaking an investigation and wants to examine your appliance, we suggest you do your utmost to ensure that your expert investigates along with the HSE expert, (because the evidence you may wish to rely upon will be altered or destroyed by the investigation itself so all experts should undertake such an investigation together). Ideally a report should show a reading of CO in parts per million (ppm) from your appliance and also present in your room. This measurement is usually made with a flue gas analyzer. You should also ask the expert to measure other products of combustion.