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Long wait for gas alarms
ELDERLY and disabled residents have been left without vital carbon monoxide detectors for their homes after Durham City Council ran out of stock.
Some residents in homes belonging to the council have been waiting several weeks for faulty devices to be replaced.
In one instance an elderly couple without a detector were allegedly told to open all their doors and windows over fears of a carbon monoxide leak.
The city council has placed a bulk order for the detectors, but says suppliers are having trouble getting them from manufacturers in China.
But UK gas safety watchdog Corgi said it was unaware of any shortage.
The detectors, which are fitted as standard in warden-controlled homes and other similar properties owned by the council, bleep to warn of carbon monoxide escaping from gas boilers and fires.
advertisementTom Carr, 90, who is registered blind, and his wife Betty, 87, of Meadowfield, have been waiting for a new detector since reporting a fault at the end of May.
Their daughter-in-law Alma Carr, from Brandon, said: "It is not acceptable. They were told initially it would take three weeks and that was on May 30.
"I am not only worried about my parents-in-law, but there may well be lots of other old people in the same position who have nobody to make a noise for them."
Mrs Carr said that on one occasion the council called the elderly couple and told them to open all their doors and windows, fearing an apparent leak.
She said: "An engineer came and checked their fire, then just left. When they told us about this my husband took them our detector to use, which they still are."
Councillor Paul Taylor said: "I have had lots of calls on this, not just from constituents in my own ward, but elsewhere.
"I was flabbergasted to be told that there were no detectors in stock and they had been on order for some time. I find such mis-management totally unacceptable, especially where the health and safety of elderly people is concerned."
Coun Bill Kellett said he understood that there were at least 100 council tenants in a similar situation.
Durham City MP Roberta Blackman-Woods said: "The city council must now tell us how many people have defective detectors, how long they must now wait for new ones, and how they got into the situation of not having a stock of spare detectors on hand."
Twelve years ago, a student living in digs in Durham City was killed by carbon monoxide poisoning from a boiler that had not been properly maintained.
Her death prompted the Advertiser's sister paper The Northern Echo to launch its 'Silent Killer' campaign, which aimed to ensure that all heating appliances were properly maintained by qualified engineers, while urging the installation of carbon monoxide detectors.
Coun Fraser Reynolds, leader of Durham City Council, said: "The problem is the existing detectors we have had in many of our homes have not lasted as long as they were supposed to. Consequently we are waiting for some new stock, but they are coming from China and there is a national shortage of them, it's not just in Durham.
"We want to deal with this and get it right as soon as possible."
A spokeswoman for Corgi said: "Demand has been increasing substantially but there is no national shortage that we are aware of and there are a number of retailers who have got plenty of stock. I would recommend to Durham City Council that they seek a different supplier somewhere else."
Sent: 13/08/2007
Email us direct at: repairs@londonheatingservices.co.uk
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