A YOUNG mother says she and her family owe their lives to a tiny carbon monoxide detector distributed free under a council scheme.

Vicky Collins, from Ferryhill, County Durham, believes her family could have been overcome by the deadly fumes from a faulty boiler - were it not for the detector she had just installed.

She qualified for a safety pack from Sedgefield Borough Council's Sure Start initiative, which hands out equipment to families with children under four, in Ferryhill and Chilton.

Mrs Collins, 31, lives in Ferryhill with her husband, Kevin, and daughters, Robyn, three, and ten-week-old Niamh.

She received her safety pack last week and installed the detector next to the gas boiler. Almost immediately she noticed it had turned black and called out an engineer who discovered a fault.

Mrs Collins said: "The man from the gas board said there wasn't a gas leak, but he could tell there was carbon monoxide in there because it made him dizzy in the small time he was looking at the boiler.

"Somebody had covered up the ventilation in the door and he said there would probably be no oxygen in there within 30 minutes."

Luckily for Mrs Collins, the carbon monoxide gas, dubbed the Silent Killer, had not had time to travel the full length of the old Victorian house.

But she said that if it were not for the detector, she would not have noticed the problem.

She said: "I'm trying not to think about it too much, but the worst case scenario is we could have died.

"I know a friend whose family it happened to and they lost a little girl, so it's a very good idea to get a detector installed."

Mahshid Turner, Sure Start project officer, said: "We're really pleased, because that is proof that the detectors are being used effectively and doing what they are supposed to."

The safety pack, which also includes a fire guard, safety gate, smoke alarms, door jams, socket covers and a bath mat, is available free to families in Chilton and Ferryhill. For more details, contact (01388) 720067.

l The Northern Echo started its Silent Killer campaign in a bid to highlight the dangers of carbon monoxide poisoning. The odourless, colourless gas is produced by faulty heating heating equipment and fires.