Gas safety

If you can smell gas:
You must report this to your gas supplier immediately. Contact details should be available on your gas meter, or call the free 24-hour National Gas Emergency Helpline on 0800 111 999.

What to do if you can smell gas

It’s important to act quickly in a gas emergency. These are the steps you need to take to stay safe:

• Get fresh air immediately. Make sure you open all doors and windows to let air flow through the space.
• Turn off the gas emergency valve. This is also called the ‘gas emergency shut off’ valve. This should be located by your gas meter, unless the meter is located in a basement, LPG bulk tank or storage vessels.
• Extinguish all naked flames and do not smoke.
• Do not operate electrical switches. This includes turning lights on/off and the switches on plug sockets, because this can ignite escaping gas.
• Contact your gas supplier, or the National Gas Emergency Helpline on 0800 111 999.

If the attending emergency operative identifies an issue with any gas appliance, follow their advice concerning the use of the equipment. Where advised, contact a Gas Safe registered engineer to fix the applicant and check it’s safe. Don’t turn the gas supply on again until it’s been check by a Gas Safe registered engineer.

If you are feeling unwell, visit your GP or hospital immediately and let them know you may have been exposed to carbon monoxide.

Annual gas safety inspections

We’re required to carry out a free yearly gas safety inspection at your home, which typically takes less than an hour. It’s part of your tenancy agreement to let us access your property and carry out these safety checks.

We’ll write to let you know when it’s time to request your gas safety inspection in advance of the annual deadline.

If you fail to request an appointment, we will book one for you and write to let you know which day it will be. If you are not at home to allow access during the scheduled appointment we may force entry to your property, and you may incur a charge for this.

Request your gas safety check

To request your gas safety check:

Email: repairs.requests@reading.gov.uk
Telephone: 0118 937 3757