Tenants missing out on gas checks

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More than a quarter (28%) of council tenants said their local authority landlord had not serviced their boiler in the last 12 months, according to the ICM Research poll for Lloyds Pharmacy.

It also found more than half of council properties (59%) do not have carbon monoxide (CO) monitors - the lowest penetration of any type of housing tenure. About six million people in the UK, or 11% of the population, rent properties from their local authority.

The pharmacy has called on the Government to make it mandatory for CO monitors to be fitted to all rental properties, including its own local authority houses.

The study found almost half of all people renting from the council did not know that an orange flame on a gas appliance could signify a possible carbon monoxide leak.

Chris Frost, head of medicines at Lloyds Pharmacy, said: "Milder cases of carbon monoxide leakage within the home can cause symptoms such as nausea, tiredness and headaches, which are easily mistaken for flu. These symptoms are particularly common at the onset of winter, so it's very easy for people to miss the signs of carbon monoxide poisoning."

The survey found that the average boiler in a council home is estimated to be around eight years old, although 18% of tenants did not know the age of their boiler.

Stephanie Trotter, the president of charity CO-Gas Safety, said: "Our figures show that around 30 people die and a further 300 suffer CO poisoning in the UK every year. However we consider that this is the tip of the iceberg. As the UK's biggest landlord, we believe councils have a duty of care to protect residents."

A spokesman for the Local Government Association, which represents more than 400 councils in England and Wales, said: "Anyone who has not had their boiler checked as they should have done should call the council and get it sorted out.

An LGA spokesperson added: "The research needs to be taken with a massive pinch of salt. The figures are now eight months out of date, during which time councils will have fitted many more carbon monoxide monitors and checked hundreds of thousands more boilers. Requests for the full research have, as yet, been declined by Lloyds Pharmacy."