A PENSIONER whose gas fire was disconnected following a carbon monoxide scare says she had to check into a hotel because she was so cold.

Gayle Sinclair claims social landlord Bolton at Home installed a new gas fire at her home in Athlone Avenue, Astley Bridge, on December 8, but that she and daughter, Stevie- Louise, aged 42, started to feel ill and drowsy.

The 73-year-old said when she told Bolton at Home about her symptoms on December 13 she was told to call the National Grid.

It sent engineers to shut the fire off and a safety warning was put on the fire saying “at risk, this appliance is unsafe and has been turned off for your safety”.

Ms Sinclair said Bolton at Home came out the next day to inspect the fire — but had not returned to install a new one.

She added: “We started feeling very sick and just wanting to go to sleep but we realised ‘no, we can’t ‘because we thought it was carbon monoxide. “They haven’t been back to replace the fire and it’s been really cold, we’ve been wearing fleeces.

“My son was so worried he booked us into a hotel.”

A National Grid spokeswoman said: “National Grid engineers were called out by the tenant who reported feeling drowsy when the gas fire was on.

“The gas engineer disconnected the fire as a safety precaution and advised the tenant to contact her landlord.

“Landlords have a responsibility to carry out safety checks on gas appliances once a year. Faulty appliances can give off carbon monoxide fumes.

“It is National Grid policy to disconnect appliances which are suspected to be faulty and recommend that people contact their landlord or a registered gas installer.”

Bolton at Home said it would be returning to test the fire.

A spokesman said: “We take health and safety very seriously.

“We’ll do more to address our customers’ concerns.

“We’ve already seen them about upgrading their storage heaters to central heating in the new year through our improvement programme.”