Peter and Ann Greenwood ' s van after the accident.
CARBON MONOXIDE WARNING ISSUE 46
Like with anything, there are risks involved in caravanning, most of which can be mitigated by common sense and proper planning. But there is one risk that we don’ t talk about enough: that of carbon monoxide exposure.
A few years ago, this came into stark relief when I saw a social media post from a caravanning couple who used their gas stove to warm the inside of their caravan on a particularly cold morning.
After breakfast, Peter and Ann Greenwood hit the road and, soon enough, began to feel unwell. Moments later, Peter had a minor‘ blackout’, and when he came too, he had veered off the road and was about to hit a road marker. He swerved and their tow vehicle flipped, while the van ended up on its side.
Later, in hospital, the couple were told that the unwell feeling they experienced before Peter blacked out was caused by carbon monoxide poisoning. If the exposure to carbon monoxide, a silent, odourless gas, had been slightly longer, it could have been fatal.
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