A mother-of-one is angered that a gas safety inspection came out all clear months before a deadly carbon monoxide leak was found in her Borehamwood flat.

Rebecca Bowden, of Merton Court, Bennington Drive, was one of eight families evacuated last Saturday when the leak was found.

The property had been built by Taylor Wimpey just five years earlier, who admitted the gas flues were faulty, suggesting residents had been exposed to the deadly gas for that long.


But Miss Bowden, whose daughter, Lexi-Mai, is 14-months, says that heating inspectors Robert Heath deemed her boiler safe in May, even giving her a certificate to prove it.

She said: “I am feeling very let down, my daughter and I narrowly escaped a very dangerous situation.


“I am baffled. Why as my boiler given the all clear two months ago, when all this time there's been a carbon monoxide leak in my flat?

“We could have died because of this. It’s just terrible.”


Miss Bowden and her daughter were evacuated from her house with five minutes’ notice last Saturday.

The 19-year-old was also critical of Taylor Wimpey, who she claims provided alternative accommodation in a “cramped” hotel room unfit for a baby.

“There was hardly any room to fit the travel cot I had bought from home, and there was nowhere to store or warm her milk.


“To make matters worse, they did not reimburse us for extra costs of food. The day before we were evacuated, I spent nearly £90 on food but it all went to waste.”


She said that living in the hotel was so “impossible” that she was forced to move in with her partner, Billy’s, parents in London.

She said it was an added blow that she only found out she could move back into her flat when she checked the Borehamwood Times website three days later.


Her neighbours, who were also evacuated, have since had their gas flues refitted but the full-time mum is still waiting. Meanwhile, she is left without heating and hot water.

“Taylor Wimpey keep giving me half hearted responses they will get to it soon, but so far, nobody has. I am getting very fed up of waiting.”

The Borehamwood Times is awaiting comment from Taylor Wimpey and Robert Heath.