A housing association has accepted responsibility for a serious gas leak which could have caused a deadly explosion in a residential area in Fulham.
Shepherd’s Bush Housing Association admitted sending a handyman to the home of pregnant mum-of-two Danielle Gough last year.
The shoddy work resulted in gas flooding into Ms Gough’s rented first-floor flat, causing a serious risk of fire and explosion.
Luckily the family were able to escape, before Ms Gough went back to turn off the gas supply and experts arrived to carry out repairs.
Westminster Magistrates' Court was told at the hearing on April 29 that the housing association sent a handyman, who was not registered with Gas Safe Register, to cut a gas pipe that was causing a tripping hazard in the living room in May last year.
The housing association believed the pipe was not connected to the gas supply, but when Ms Gough topped up her prepayment meter soon after, gas flooded into her property.
She fled the flat, which was in a terrace, went to a neighbour below and called National Grid Transco, before returning to switch off the gas supply.
The housing association fixed the fault after the National Grid Transco capped off the gas supply.
Shepherd’s Bush Housing Association, which is based in Flanders Road, Chiswick, was taken to court by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for undertaking unsafe gas work.
It pleaded guilty to breaching its responsibilities as an employer under the Health and Safety Act, and was told to pay a £2,500 fine and £1,000 costs.
The magistrates said this took into account the housing association’s "not-for-profit" status and previous record.
Afterwards, HSE inspector Zameer Bhunnoo said: “It is essential that landlords have adequate procedures in place to ensure that an appropriately competent tradesperson is assigned for any repairs required.
“In this case, a Gas Safe registered engineer should have been used."
A spokesperson for the housing association said changes to their practice had already been taken to ensure errors were not repeated. She said: “The safety of our residents is our first priority and we deeply regret this incident.
“We are greatly relieved there was no injury. We have apologised to Ms Gough and are very sorry for the concern and worry this must have caused. The judge and HSE acknowledged this incident was a result of human error and not a failure in our systems.
“The judge also acknowledged that we had already reviewed and changed our processes to eliminate the possibility of such a human error occurring again and carried out an independent review to ensure that no stone was left unturned.
“Until now our record has been exemplary with no cases in our almost 50 year history.”
