In October 2015, Tom Hill, 18, died after a faulty portable flueless gas heater released lethal levels of carbon monoxide into a bathroom.
Carbon monoxide is a poisonous gas produced by the incomplete burning of any carbon fuel, and it has no colour, scent or taste.
Tom, had been on holiday at a cottage in the Scottish Highlands with his girlfriend, Charlotte Beard, and her family at the time of the accident.
Glenmark Cottage, where Tom was staying (Image: Mark Beard) Tom died on October 28, however, on October 27, the carbon monoxide alarm at the holiday cottage sounded and Charlotte’s dad, Mark Beard, assumed it was from the kitchen.
He said: “The night before Tom died, the alarm did activate.
“What I did was to turn off all appliances in the kitchen that I thought might be sources of carbon monoxide.”
He did not know the LPG heater in the bathroom was running at the time, and also did not know what to do in the event of a carbon monoxide alarm sounding.
Mr Beard said: “I consider myself to be technically competent
“But I treated that carbon monoxide alarm like everybody does with a smoke alarm, which is, if it goes off, assume the toast is burnt and either push the button or take the thing outside when it clears.
“You can’t do that with carbon monoxide. I didn’t know this.
“It needs more awareness – or the things need to be banned.”
An inquest was heard into Tom’s death on June 2, 2025, where coroner Jason Pegg recorded a conclusion of accidental death.
Mr Beard and Tom’s parents, Jerry and Alison Hill – who live in Salisbury now – would like to see holiday homes equipped with signage to show what to do if an alarm sounds, similar to those displayed for fire safety.
They are also calling for similar flueless gas devices to be banned.
Mr Hill said: “One of the problems with these heaters is quite often, they’re used by vulnerable people with relatively low-cost accommodation, and they probably haven’t got access to instructions.
“We think the other thing is, people aren’t really aware of the dangers of carbon monoxide. There needs to be government safety rulings – and films. There’s no information going out.
“From our point of view, we wouldn’t have been aware of the danger of carbon monoxide ourselves before Tom’s death. Not really.”
The heater that led to Tom’s death was manufactured in 2004 by a company in Spain.
A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found the LPG cabinet heater should not have been used in a room as small as the bathroom, which had no ventilation because the windows had been painted shut.
He also said that the heater had only been inspected by a gas engineer just seven days prior to the fatal incident, and it was not identified as being in an unsafe location or being damaged.
President and director of charity CO Gas safety Stephanie Trotter said: “Less than 2 per cent of carbon monoxide (CO) in the air can kill in under three minutes. CO cannot be sensed using human senses. So why doesn’t the gas emergency service have a mandatory duty to test for CO?
“We are grateful to Tom Hill’s family for raising awareness of the dangers of LPG powered cabinet heaters, which surely should be banned?
“Why are there no films to inform the public about the dangers of CO from carbon powered appliances such as gas cookers, generators or wood burners? There is also a huge need for better support for victims and families.”
The coroner will now prepare a preventing future deaths report about the lack of warnings on LPG heaters.
