Uncontrolled stoves, fires and boilers can cause leaks, which “lead to fires and explosions that cost lives and destroy neighborhoods,” said Bob Kerr, director of gas services at Gas Safe Register. The body, which works in conjunction with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), found that almost one in three landlords will skip booking an annual gas safety check this year due to the cost of living crisis. A boiler service costs around £80 while a gas safety check for three appliances costs around £60. The warning comes as investigators concluded that a gas leak from internal piping was responsible for last Sunday’s huge explosion at a house in Kingstanding, Birmingham, which killed Doreen Rees-Bibb, 79, and seriously injured a man. The incident is the latest in a series of rare but devastating explosions over the past two years caused by faulty appliances or a broken gas main from Portsmouth in Yorkshire. Four gas explosions that destroyed homes examined by the Guardian were caused by faulty appliances or supply containers inside homes. Three more were caused by gas leaking into properties from cracked or corroded supply pipes, a problem being tackled by a national gas mains replacement programme, which has another 10 years to run. The explosion in Birmingham adds to another 12 deaths and 179 injuries caused by gas explosions and fires in Great Britain over the past five years, according to HSE figures. On average, 31 eruptions occurred a year, often leaving communities and homeowners traumatized. “There should be help for those who struggle [to afford gas checks]this is such an important thing to do,” said Darren Cornish, who was inside his mother and father’s home in Bude, Cornwall, when a gas explosion leveled the property in January 2021. “People have less money now to spend on maintaining these very important devices, so leaks are becoming more of a problem.” A pipe running into the house from two gas cylinders had ruptured and leaked into the wall cavity. “I checked the gas stove. Mum unfortunately wasn’t thinking and she lit a flame to check the oven wasn’t leaking and ignited the gas around us which went to the walls to get oxygen out, as a result the walls all blew out and three tonnes of roof was resting on an inner wall” , he said. “We were so lucky to be alive.” Subscribe to First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7am. BST One problem is corroded or cracked mains pipes leaking gas into the ground, which finds its way under houses and wall cavities. Since 2002, gas network companies, including Cadent and Southern Gas Network, have replaced 300,000 kilometers of decades-old cast-iron mains pipes with plastic ones as well as narrower steel branch pipes, which supply gas to individual homes. Cadent said it is 75% through its program. Michael McCormick survived a huge explosion last year at his home in Portsmouth caused by a leak from the branch pipe, which was so corroded it split in two. Gas flooded the cavity below the ground floor and was ignited by a candle. “I felt the blast wave go past me,” he said. “It was like two hands [pushing] in the middle of my back. My wife [who was upstairs] I felt the floor go up and down again.” Records show the gas main had been switched to plastic in the 1980s, before SGN took over the network, but the service pipe had been left, he said. SGN said an investigation by the HSE found SGN had no case to answer. “I’m very concerned that there are other houses out there,” McCormick said. “We were very lucky. They definitely need to speed up [the mains replacement programme]. They have to do something to stop people from getting hurt and killed.” Hazel Wilcock, 61, was killed in an explosion that demolished her home near Bury in February 2021 while she was on a video call with her partner. The coroner, Joanne Kearsley, concluded: “In all likelihood, the explosion was caused by a build-up of natural gas in the basement of the property, which had accumulated there due to a break in a main gas pipe about 35 meters away… The gas is likely to have escaped from the point of the broken pipe through a gully…He reached number five, which was explosive and likely ignited due to electrical devices, which were in the basement.” A spokesman for the HSE said: “We take natural gas safety very seriously. There are more than 22 million homes on the natural gas network, so these incidents are rare, although they can be very serious. Gas networks are responsible for maintaining the pipes, while the HSE monitors compliance and investigates incidents in some cases.” The Energy Networks Association said: “Our members have already replaced over two-thirds of their gas mains within 30 meters of any building. Steel and metal conduits and pipes are now being replaced with polyethylene, the safest and most durable modern plastic replacement material.’
