Should I call Social Services on my neighbour?

um well u have to do SOMETHING. where there's gas and cigarettes there's trouble and who gives a fuck if you piss him off. piss him off before he kills you!

Surmounter entirely OTM

yep, thirded.

i dont even see the issue here.

even without cigs gas is still big trouble. even if it doesnt go aflame it can still kill you.

Cool, I'll print this out and show him if he gets shirty...

I'm more wondering what the Council can/will actually do? NB, whatever they do, they'll do it incompetently :(

or be sparked when you turn on a light, or plug something in, or hammer a nail, etc

...when I knocked he didn't even recognise me at first

That really does sound like something to be concerned about. His response has made you feel uneasy enough to seek advice about where to go from here. Does he have family that you could contact? I know you would prefer to avoid dealing with your other neighbours, but perhaps their opinion might help you make a decision. He could be deteriorating rapidly and waiting might make the situation worse.

It's great to know that there are still people around who look out for and care about their neighbours.

Seriously, gas plus flame can be literally explosive. If you don't think the Council can be effective, you need to contact his family or social services or both.

shirty is such a funny term

Seriously, gas plus flame can be literally explosive

This made me laugh!

But everyone is right. It's not an issue I've ever considered before, but there must be powers enforce safety in these kind of situations, surely.

Also you don't want to do nothing and the guy dies of CO poisoning down there.

one of my good friends and her boyfriend nearly died of CO poisoning a year or two ago-- luckily, they had been up on speed for two days, were coming down and trying to sleep when she smelled gas, looked around their room, and there was thick, undulating...'haze' over everything. he was in the hospital for two days from inhalation, she's a bit more hardy, but still. need to do something about that neighbor.

dang

Punch him in the face.

Buy yourself a carbon monoxide detector. It's good to have one anyways.

I didn't know that there's a thing as detector. I mean, an affordable one. But what everyoen said: do something, this is far too dangerous to leave.

we could club together and get him an electric oven

good idea, but an electric oven will also set the building on fire when left on.

(will -> can)

I can't believe the gas company hasn't done something after being called out twice to his home. It's not as if it's in their interest to have an explosion which destroys a block of flats.

it is if they're Halliburton :-)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_monoxide_detector

They're not particularly expensive. Just a little more than a smoke detector. Well worth the piece of mind.

Peace of mind that is.

xxxpost

A lot of misunderstanding of the Human Rights Act has led to some agencies refusing to pass information on to other organisations.

I think a call to Social Services would be the "best" course of action here.

Don't know about in the US or Belgium but here 30ish pounds will get you one that looks like an electric smoke alarm, or if you're cheap you can get a bit of card/plastic with a sandpapery-looking orange patch on which claims to change colour if there's CO in the atmosphere. I have one of these; no idea if it works, it's never changed colour...

Can't the gas company disconnect him since they've had to send people out whose detectors have found a problem which the guy hasn't dealt with? Or would they have to disconnect all the apartments at once?

The problem is, if it changes color and you are passed out, it isn't very effective. Do you check your orange spot once an hour?

What's the CO problem? That only happens when something is burning inefficiently in an underventilated space, rather than when there's a gas leak. The problem here is the flat could explode (though I guess if the gas leak is bad enough it could suffocate the old guy, and then he def ain't turning it off).

But yeah, if you yourself are burning gas at all get a CO detector - one saved a friend's life at university.

xpost I was thinking the same thing. Maybe I could wear as some sort of patch. Plastered on my forehead.

That would be really useful if you are a narcissist but you would have to buy a completely new wardrobe.

I can't believe the gas company hasn't done something after being called out twice to his home. It's not as if it's in their interest to have an explosion which destroys a block of flats.

Well, one time leaving the gas on I guess isn't anything that out of the ordinary. This second time the man did express his concerns and basically advised us to sort it out. But as there's apparently nothing wrong with the oven itself or whatever, they can't do anything formally.

Decided that we're all going to 'discuss' it with him and suggest he gets an electric oven for which we will chip in some (there's a communal building fund with cash in it) and if he kicks up a fuss tell him that we'll ask environmental services round to show him we're serious. It's just so hard when you don't know what he's actually heard of what you're saying!

Tell him your whole family died in the gas chambers and the smell reminds you of that. (he's old, he'll understand WWII and stuff)

Stan, Stan, Stan!

get out of your apartment more often. be a swinger. shack up with other swingers. you'll have more fun and decrease your chances of dying in the contaminated air or the inevitable explosion. get a gas mask and a fire suit. swing with those. find someone with a biohazard fetish. that way you can fantasize about it and stay safe. make sure you agree on a 'safety' signal or word.

ok ok ok,,, sorry sorry sorry (((xpost xpost xpost)))