Family in carbon monoxide horror

8:37am Tuesday 3rd April 2007

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A SHOCKED family and their 15-month-old baby narrowly escaped death when they were poisoned with a killer gas while on holiday.

Mother-of-two Jemma Traves, 33, says her family decided to go for a week-long vacation for the first time in years at Waterside Holiday Park, Weymouth.

But the family's holiday turned into a nightmare when they woke up after their first night in the park's static caravan suffering from mysterious headaches.

Mrs Traves then struggled to rouse her normally lively baby Samuel, who she discovered with a bluish tinge to his lips.

The careful mum had seen a TV programme about the deaths of siblings Christi Shepherd, seven, and her six-year-old brother Bobby, who died from carbon monoxide poisoning in a bungalow in Corfu after fumes from a gas boiler seeped into their rooms.

As a result she had taken a carbon monoxide tester with her and to her horror she discovered the orange dot on the credit card-sized device had turned black, indicating that the deadly gas was present.

The family packed up and went straight to Poole Hospital for tests where, after five hours, doctors confirmed there were traces of carbon monoxide in their blood.

"I'm quite a worrier anyway," said Mrs Traves, from Aspen Gardens, in Poole.

"Most people probably wouldn't have bothered taking one with them.

"It cost just under £5, but it may well have helped save our lives. As the hospital staff said, if we had stayed there any longer it could have been a lot worse."

Mrs Traves said when the family first arrived at the site there was no hot water in the caravan where they were staying, so reception sent a workman to mend the boiler.

Water Holiday Group Ltd said in a statement: subject to a full investigation we appear to have had an incident involving carbon monoxide.' Company director Philip Jacobs said: "When sited here the gas boiler and system were checked by a Corgi- registered fitter and a written certificate given.

"We have now run the gas boiler system for 30 minutes without carbon monoxide registering on a detector. We have been operating this well-known, five-star holiday park for 43 years without any such incident. We operate a health and safety system using fully qualified staff.

"We will speedily complete our investigation and ensure that anything that proves necessary is done."

The family has lodged a complaint with Borough of Poole's environmental health team, which has passed it on to Weymouth and Portland Borough Council.

An officer from the borough council visited the park yesterday as part of its investigation into the complaint.