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Landlords prosecuted after young family suffers carbon monoxide poisoning in rented house (13 October 2014)

Date: 13/10/2014
Duncan Lewis, Personal Injury Solicitors, Landlords prosecuted after young family suffers carbon monoxide poisoning in rented house

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has prosecuted two landlords, after a couple and their baby were taken to hospital suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning.

An HSE investigation found that landlords Mehboob Bobat, 47, and Suraiya Bobat, 46, had failed to organise an annual Gas Safety check at the property they rented out in Bowness Road, Bolton, in Lancashire.

The HSE found that the tenants – a couple expecting a baby – started renting the two-bedroom terraced house in February 2013, three months before their baby was due.

However, towards the end of February, the expectant mother began to suffer headaches and palpitations and had difficulty breathing. She was admitted to hospital for several days but doctors thought her symptoms were linked to her pregnancy.

When the woman’s husband also started to suffer from severe headaches, he was prescribed the painkiller codeine by his GP.

On 21 August the same year, the unnamed couple were at home in the afternoon looking after their four-month-old son, who had been crying all day. They were worried that he was unwell – but the child’s father also began to suffer from a severe headache and the child’s mother developed symptoms of dizziness and collapsed in the kitchen of the property.

Her husband called an ambulance and all three members of the family were admitted to hospital and treated overnight for high levels of carbon monoxide in their bloodstream.

The source of carbon monoxide poisoning was traced to a gas water heater without a flue in the kitchen of the property – because it did not have a flue, the water heater should have been used for no longer than five minutes at any time.

However, it was used to heat water at the kitchen sink and was also connected to a washing machine.

A gas heating engineer classified the water heater as dangerous, along with a gas heater in the couple’s bedroom, a gas fire in the living room and a gas boiler in the kitchen – all of which were thought to be potential sources of carbon monoxide poisoning.

When asked to provide a Gas Safety inspection certificate, Mr and Mrs Bobat admitted they did not have one.

On Friday (10/10/14) at Trafford Magistrates’ Court, Mehboob Bobat and Suraiya Bobat, both of St Helens Road in Bolton, pleaded guilty to two breaches of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998. They were each sentenced to 80 hours of unpaid community work ordered to pay prosecution costs of £720 each. They were also ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £60.

After the hearing, HSE Principal Inspector Mike Sebastian said that Mr and Mrs Bobat had failed in their legal duties as landlords to arrange an annual Gas Safety check.

“It’s shocking that all four of the gas appliances in the property had the potential to cause carbon monoxide poisoning,” Mr Sebastien said.

“If the baby’s father hadn’t acted quickly to call an ambulance when his wife collapsed, then the effects could easily have been fatal.

“Landlords must take their responsibilities seriously and make sure houses they rent out are safe for their tenants.

“We will continue to take legal action when landlords ignore the law,” he added.

Duncan Lewis Personal Injury Solicitors – No Win No Fee Poisoning Claims

Duncan Lewis is a leading firm of personal injury solicitors and can advise those who have suffered the effects of carbon monoxide poisoning in a rented property or holiday accommodation on how to make no win no fee Poisoning Claims for compensation.

Personal injury claimants have three years from the date poisoning was diagnosed in which to make a compensation claim – and children can claim poisoning compensation for up to three years after the age of 21.

For expert legal advice on no win no fee Poisoning Claims, call Duncan Lewis personal injury solicitors on 020 7923 4020.


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