A PREGNANT woman and her husband nearly died from a poisonous gas that leaked from their faulty boiler.

Tina, 36, and Steve Baker, 41, spent 11-and-a-half hours in Poole Hospital's accident and emergency ward on Friday (January 28), being treated for carbon monoxide poisoning.

On Thursday they had put on their Modairflow boiler all afternoon and evening.

Early the next morning they both woke in their flat in Merrow Avenue in Branksome suffering from splitting headaches, stiff necks and nausea.

Tina, who will be giving birth in six weeks to her first baby, had a feeling their illness was something to do with the boiler so decided to call gas company Transco at about 7.30am on Friday.

Mrs Baker said: "They disconnected the gas. We were told if we'd had it on all night we'd have been dead.

"I was frightened for the baby so we called the doctors who told us to go to the hospital. When we got there we were allowed in straight away."

The pair were given oxygen and had their blood, heart and reflexes checked.

The baby's heart and movement were also tested. Medical staff at the hospital believed the baby had not been affected.

The couple were then taken to a company, Atlantic Enterprises, where they spent four hours in a decompression chamber to replace the carbon monoxide in their bodies with oxygen.

Mrs Baker said: "It was horrendous. I just wanted to warn people to always get their boilers checked, and to thank the hospital staff and the people at Atlantic Enterprises who were wonderful."

Even in low doses, carbon monoxide gas is poisonous and can cause loss of consciousness and death.

About 50 people in the UK die every year from this type of poisoning and 200 more are seriously injured.

If an appliance is not properly vented or serviced and becomes blocked this can lead to a build-up of carbon monoxide.

A spokeswoman from Transco said: "We are often called to properties where there have been cases of carbon monoxide poisoning as a result of, for example, appliances not being properly fitted or regularly serviced.

"The main advice to people is to ensure that their appliances are properly fitted and regularly serviced by a CORGI engineer."

If you smell gas you should call Transco's free emergency 24-hour number on 0800 111 999. Carbon monoxide detectors can also be bought at DIY stores.

First published: February 2