Risk of gas 'catastrophe' now 'high' as more than half of Mancs consider mending boilers themselves

A Gorton resident had a lucky escape after a dodgy ‘handyman’ left gas leaking from his cooker — unbeknownst to him.

The man was seen to be Alex Hughes, a Cadent emergency gas engineer, last month. He fixed the issue which could have had ‘catastrophic consequences both for the resident of the property and their neighbours’, Cadent says.

The incident comes as research by the firm suggested more than half (52 percent) of Mancunians would consider fixing their own boiler over using a Gas Safe technician as the cost-of-living crisis hits households. To make matters worse, four in ten people are not getting their boiler serviced — so Cadent believes the risk of ‘a serious incident is now high’ in the city.

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“He showed me his gas cooker, which he said had been fitted by ‘a handyman’ days before,” said Alex. “When I did my checks, I found gas leaking from it.

“Over time, the gas would have built up and could have caused a serious incident. While I can understand that people will often go for the cheapest quote, they really need to be sure that person is Gas Safe registered.”

Alex, an experienced engineer, who worked as a plumbing and heating engineer before joining us at Cadent last year, added: “You see this sort of thing from time to time – I would say a couple of times a year. Incorrect fittings, or pipes that should be copper but are not. You can spot the telltale signs.

“Like in this case in West Gorton, we will make it safe – and we will report it into the right authorities, including the Health and Safety Executive – but the big advice we need to get over is to only ever use a qualified, Gas Safe engineer for any repairs or