A FAMILY is calling for an investigation after learning that toxic carbon monoxide fumes were leaking from a boiler in their bedroom.

Diane and Philip Kane found there was a potentially-lethal fault in their central heating boiler when they called out engineers to a radiators problem.

The couple, from Byerley Road, in Shildon, County Durham, fear that a corroded plate on the Potterton boiler could have been leaking fumes.

They pay £9 a month under a three-star service agreement with British Gas, and had assumed the appliance was safe.

Another case last week saw nursing auxiliary Vera Walker told she was 20 minutes from death after collapsing at her home in Middlehope Grove, Bishop Auckland, from suspected carbon monoxide poisoning.

Mrs Kane, who has two sons, said: "I can't stop thinking we might not have been here now.

"We had been feeling tired and hungover, but we didn't realise what was causing it.

"It was a pure chance that we called the gas company out. The engineer condemned the boiler straight away."

A British Gas spokesman said that all parts of an appliance would normally be checked under the service agreement.

He said: "We have a fail-safe system. Our engineers are all Corgi-registered and they have a list to work to. If anything gives cause for concern, it will be replaced.

"We advise everybody, whether they are our customers or not, to have an annual check on their appliance."

The Northern Echo's Silent Killer campaign was launched to highlight the danger of carbon monoxide poisoning, which claims 40 lives a year.