Haven holiday park family rushed to hospital after 'carbon monoxide leak' inside caravan
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A terrified mum has told how her family were rushed to hospital after a suspected carbon monoxide leak in a Haven holiday park caravan. Vicki Wallace and her husband Rob had taken their 14-year-old son and another relative to Doniford Bay Holiday Park in Minehead, Somerset, in October. But on the night of their arrival, the 41-year-old heard an alarm going off in the kitchen while she was in bed. She said they were 'frightened' when they discovered it was the carbon monoxide alarm, and tried to call security - but claim they did not answer.
The family began to worry further when three of them started felling unwell. Vicki's son, J, had been complaining of having a headache, Vicki had been suffering unusual chest pains, which she had originally dismissed as her heart condition. The NHS admin worker claims it was not until 20 minutes after the alarm had gone off that a security staff member came and reportedly asked them to turn it off.
But Vicki refused to stay in the caravan and the family was moved to a different property. But they said their chest pains and headaches continued, while one relative suffered from an 'exceptionally' high heart-rate. After googling their symptoms, the mum-of-two suspected that they could have carbon monoxide poisoning. Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service attended and confirmed that they used a gas monitor to investigate the property, stating that readings "indicated a suspected low level carbon monoxide leak". Firefighters used fans to ventilate the caravan until the readings 'returned to normal' but Vicki claims fire crew and paramedics advised the family they needed to be rushed to hospital. Ambulances transferred the group to Musgrove Park Hospital, where Vicki said they immediately had blood tests and were all given oxygen, while they were treated for nine hours. When the family got back from the hospital, Vicki says Haven denied that there had been any carbon monoxide leak and when she asked to see the fire service report, claims she was refused and told it was 'belonged to Haven'. After being contacted by journalists, Haven said there had been 'very low-level readings' of carbon monoxide but claimed it was 'not classified as a health risk'.
