Letter: Gas leak may have saved a life

WE READ your article 'Gas deaths: landlords targeted' with great interest (9 October).

In July we four students moved into a house in Southampton. Shortly afterwards we suspected a gas leak and called out the gas board. We were advised that it would be a good idea to have all the gas appliances checked (for which the board charged). Later it was found that two gas fire flues were completey blocked, two were fitted incorrectly, two needed servicing and one was not worth servicing.

Why was the landlord not compelled to make sure the property was safe before we moved in? What is even more shocking is the apathy of landlords. How many know about the awful effects of carbon monoxide poisoning?

It is a sobering thought that had we not had a gas leak, or if we had moved to the house in the winter, one of us could easily have lost our life.

Colin Coxall, Jenny Paskins, Selena Rutter and Peter Vallelley

Southampton