THE largest housing association in Inverclyde has been accused of placing a family with a young child in danger after a carbon monoxide alert caused by a faulty boiler.

Senior councillor Colin Jackson says he had to step in and force River Clyde Homes to take action at the Port Glasgow address and that the scare could have ended in tragedy.

He says there have been two separate occasions when carbon monoxide was detected, something which RCH disputes.

He told the Tele he eventually took the 'dangerous situation' directly to Inverclyde Council's chief executive in a bid to get it resolved.

Councillor Jackson said: "This was a highly dangerous situation which could have had tragic consequences.

"This family had two carbon monoxide detections, in one case the fire brigade were called out."

Mr Jackson, who has been an outspoken critic of shortcomings at RCH, was contacted by the family from Uist Avenue in a desperate bid to get action over their faulty boiler.

The councillor says that over the last two years the family have had no fewer than eight call outs because of a number of problems relating to their faulty boiler.

He told the Tele that on two occasions during the winter months the gas was turned off because it was deemed unsafe, leaving the family with no heating or hot water for over 24 hours.

After approaching River Clyde Homes, Councillor Jackson says a promised visit by a gas engineer did not take place.

He then alerted housing association board members, but when he didn't get a response he went to Inverclyde Council boss Louise Long.

He said: "River Clyde Homes have been forced to do an embarrassing u-turn and replace the entire heating system."

A spokesperson for RCH said they treat carbon monoxide risks 'very seriously' and added that full safety systems are in place in each home they manage.

They added: "Our records show that a new flue was installed at this address following a carbon monoxide (CO) alarm in February, but there have been no further CO incidents since.

"The system uses an app which records all CO alarm incidents and there is nothing registered at the end of last week and the engineer could find no sign of CO in the home when he visited.

“An unrelated repair was carried out earlier this month following a water leak.

"Given the incidents of repairs a decision was taken to replace the boiler."