Gas Safe Register warns that homeowners who are struggling to keep up with rising prices may not be performing safety checks.
The Guardian was informed Sunday by Bob Kerr from Gas Safe Register that one third of British households won’t have their annual gas safety inspections this year. The result could lead to potentially deadly gas explosions. Kerr attributed the failure to perform safety inspections on rising living costs in the UK.
Kerr told the newspaper that, while an annual boiler service costs around £80 ($96) and a safety check for three gas appliances amounts to around £60 ($72), one in three households will choose to go without this year, even though leaking pipes and appliances could “lead to fires and explosions that cost lives and shatter neighborhoods.”
This warning is issued a week following a gas explosion that destroyed a Birmingham house, injuring one man and killing a woman aged 79. An investigation has revealed that a defective boiler could have contributed to the deadly explosion.
The UK’s inflation reached an all-time high of 9.1% last May. However, household income will fall at the fastest rate in 40 years. According to the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), Brits will see their highest living standard decline since 1956.
Kerr warns of the potential for deadly consequences as household energy bills rose to a new record 54%. London Fire Brigade (LFB), which reported in May that they had attended to 100 home fires started by open-fired wood burners, in just the past three months.
“The Brigade fears that costly energy bills could result in a surge of fires as people resort to alternative means to heat their homes,”The LFB issued a warning in a public statement.
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