A rogue gas engineer botched a boiler installation so badly that a woman was left with a deadly leak in her home.
Safety officials condemned Kim Burns’s heating system after Matthew Henvey wrongly installed it and failed to fix it more than 15 times – including once with a hairdryer.
The classroom assistant then discovered the tradesman, who runs Glasgow Gas Services, wasn’t qualified to install the boiler at her home in Larkhall.
Kim, 32, said: “I could have died because of this man’s work, yet nobody seems to care. I’m terrified that he is still working on other people’s boilers and he could be leaving them at risk. He needs to be stopped.”
Glasgow Gas Services was ordered by safety watchdogs to get it fixed by a qualified engineer but ignored their warnings.
Kim’s been left with no heating or hot water for seven months because she can’t afford a new boiler.
She said: “He tried to fix the leak but it kept coming back. Once, he tried to dry it out using a hairdryer and nearly set the hairdryer on fire.
“I contacted Vokera [the manufacturer] to look at it and they said it wasn’t installed properly and it was a danger.
“I called Gas Safe, who immediately condemned the thing and said it can’t be used as it had been left with a gas leak and various other problems.
“That’s when I found out he wasn’t qualified to work with liquefied petroleum gas – the type of gas we have.
“He shouldn’t have been working on this.”
The Gas Safe report, seen by the Sunday Mail, identified 10 defects attributable to Henvey, who carried out the installation last November.
One was “immediately dangerous”, six were “at risk” and the rest were classed as “not to current standards”. The report stated: “Gas safety defects attributable to Glasgow Gas Services were identified.
“Gas Safe Register have written to Glasgow Gas Services requiring them to have the defects rectified by a qualified Gas Safe registered engineer/business by 11th March 2024.
“I attempted to contact Henvey. I have not received a response.”
When Henvey ignored the report, Kim contacted Trading Standards, the Health and Safety Executive, Gas Safe and the police, who said there was nothing they could do.
Kim was left with no choice but to try to recover the £1350 she paid but Henvey, who also uses the name Matthew Hendry, is ignoring court summons.
She said: “I’ve spent about £2000 trying to chase him. The next step is to hire bailiffs, which is even more money.
“I’m determined he faces up to what he’s done and repays the money. It feels there aren’t proper protections for consumers.”
Henvey did not respond to our request for comment.
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