Family 'could have died' from fumes after flue damaged in roof repair

THEY WERE SAVED BY CARBON MONOXIDE ALARM BLEEPING

- By RUCSANDRA MOLDOVEANU

A FATHER says he and his family could have been killed by a carbon monoxide leak caused by roof works.

Anthony Heward, 45, and his family have lived in their council house in Beechdale, Nottingham, since November 2015. Over the past decade, the family has experienced a string of issues that went unresolved, with the father initiating and winning a housing disrepair claim against the council in 2024.

And after he, his wife and two children, aged nine and 11, were left without a working bathroom in May and June, the family say they were almost killed when roofers damaged their boiler's flue pipe.

The long-awaited roof works began on Monday, September 22. On the same day, in the evening, Mr Heward decided to put the heating on but straight away noticed his boiler "didn't sound right at all".

He then heard a beeping noise coming from his carbon monoxide alarm.

He said: "I undid the cupboard above the boiler and to my absolute amazement, the top of the flue pipe was detached. As soon as I opened the cupboard, I was confronted with a face full of fumes. I then realised we had a carbon monoxide leak and I needed to act straight away.

"I opened every window immediately. I turned everything off that I could turn off.

"My daughter was upstairs, where the boiler is, and said she was feeling dizzy and had a bit of a headache so I moved her downstairs and took some 111 advice."