A Birstall mother claims she and her two children were put in danger by Kirklees Council's failure to repair a faulty gas fire in her home.

Now single parent Nicola Pearson, 26, is taking legal action against the local authority, seeking compensation for the physical harm suffered by her six-year-old son Liam. She also has a 23-month-old daughter Chloe.

The Council has blamed the blunder on an administrative error by its sub-contractor and says it has demanded an explanation.

But Miss Pearson's solicitor Andrew Marsden, of Birstall firm Brearley's, said: "It is absolutely appalling the Council failed to respond especially as the issue of carbon monoxide poisoning is so high profile. I am investigating a claim for compensation on behalf of Liam, who was quite poorly.''

Miss Pearson says it took the Council two months to replace the heater in the lounge of her flat in Windsor Road, Howden Clough, despite the fault being reported six times.

And she claims the Council only responded after she made an emergency call to pipeline operator Transco.

She said: "The service engineer condemned the gas fire and warned me not to use it because of the fumes it was throwing out. He told me if we had been asleep when the fire was on we probably wouldn't have woken up.

"It has been a very frightening experience. I would warn other parents to get their gas fire checked as soon as possible if it has a fault."

Miss Pearson said she realised something was wrong when she started to feel lethargic and had headaches, while Liam complained of feeling sick with his neck and eyes hurting.

She said: "At first I thought we had picked up a bug but then I realised we only felt ill when the fire was on.

"Liam suffers from abdominal migraine and has been very poorly. He spent a week in hospital but I don't know if this because of the gas fire.

"I reported the fault to the Birstall housing three or four times and my mother Dawn went twice. Each time we were told the matter would be chased up nobody came to inspect the gas fire.''

Christopher Marsden, the Council's housing services information officer, said: "Housing services did ask our sub-contractor to respond within 24 hours to Miss Pearson's request when she contacted us in July but this did not happen. The sub-contractor says this was because of an administrative error and is taking measures to ensure there is no repetition. They are extremely sorry and worried this happened at all.''

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