AnxiousGilliantold of‘dangerous’gas fittingunderhouse
A Kincaidston resident terrified of using her gas cooker since an explosion has been told she has a dangerous fitting underneath her home.
Gillian Hunter,48, was left so on edge by a devastating blast in the Ayr estate last October that she has only cooked with gas twice in seven months.
Now the traumatised law firm worker has been told she has a dangerous fitting holding together the main gas pipes in her home.
Gillian spoke to the Post outside her Thistle Walk home. She said:“I’ve only used the gas cooker twice in seven months.
“It’s a constant worry, you worry about turning the gas on, even switching the heating on you just think‘it is about to go bang?’
“You’re putting your trust in these people to come out to replace your pipes and move meters out to try and provide reassurance. Now I’m left thinking‘have they even done it properly?’”
Gillian’s home was visited by engineers to fit new gas pipes four weeks ago as part of a major replacement project in the Ayr estate.
The incident is the second on Thistle Walk after dad Steven Mclaughlin told how his new meter had leaks.
But last Tuesday evening she frantically called gas firm SGN after coming home to the smell of gas. An engineer rushed out to her address but was unable to confirm a leak.
Instead, they discovered an issue with the newly installed pipe under the floorboards with a compression fitting used – a type of screw which tightens pipes and is used for gas appliances in homes.
Gillian says the engineer was concerned that the fitting could‘fall off’and could become a danger in 10 to 15 years.
She was handed a form which says the fault has been reported to the Health and Safety Executive. She claims the engineer said the fitting could fall off from the vibrations of a washing machine.
Laura said:“If that did come loose then who is to say there won’t be another explosion?”
SGN bosses have swept aside claims that Gillian has a‘dangerous fitting’.
Instead they have said the fitting“was deemed‘at risk’ due to the‘accessibility of its location’.
Now they plan on changing the fitting to provide reassurance to Gillian. A SGN spokesperson said:“The fitting is not dangerous.Our investigations have so far found that there is no direct contravention of the relevant guidance, but in this instance we will be rectifying the fitting for the customer as our engineer has interpreted it as non-compliant.”
Gillian added:“What SGN are saying now, contradicts what we were initially told.”