If you smell gas or are worried about gas safety, call 0800 111 999 at any time of the day or night. Find out what to do if you think you have a gas emergency.

Customer Care Team
Telephone 0800 040 7766

Email the Customer Care Team at customercare@northerngas.co.uk

Connections Team
Telephone 0800 040 7766

Email the Connections Team at gasconnections@northerngas.co.uk

Press Office
Telephone 0113 322 7950

Telephone Out of hours: 0113 322 7978

Stakeholder Relations Team

Email the stakeholder team at stakeholder@northerngas.co.uk

Smell Gas?
0800 111 999
Day or night
Non-emergency calls
Customer Care Team
0800 040 7766
Safe & warm Get Creative, Be Safe

Get Creative, Be Safe

We’re looking for artistic youngsters across North East, northern Cumbria and Yorkshire to come up with something creative that warns of the dangers of carbon monoxide (CO) and enter a competition that could see them win top cash prizes for themselves and their school or organisation.

Our first competition of the year has now closed, but there’s still time to enter our second competition of 2024.  Scroll down the page to find out more about how to enter.

Congratulations to our Summer 2024 winners!

Picture: Laura Ratcliffe with Key Stage 2 national competition winner, Heidi F

 

In Summer 2024 Heidi F, aged 9, from Ovingham Middle School won the regional finals and Key Stage 2 national competition with her impactful video showcasing the signs of CO poisioning.

Heidi won £450 for herself and £900 for her school.

David B, age 8, from Redby Academy in Sunderland won the Key Stage 1 regional final with a very well thought through coding video highlighting all the signs of CO poisoning, taking home £150 for himself and £300 for his school.

Laura Ratcliffe, Social Strategy Programme Manager at Northern Gas Networks said: “We were incredibly impressed by the creativity and passion displayed by all participants. 

“We believe it is essential to engage the younger generation about the dangers posed by carbon monoxide, the causes and how to keep themselves safe.”

What is Carbon Monoxide (CO)?

Known as the silent killer, accidental – and therefore preventable – CO poisoning is responsible for around 40 deaths and 200 visits to hospital each year.

You can’t see it. You can’t smell it. You can’t taste it. CO is a colourless, odourless, tasteless poisonous gas that is released when any fossil fuel that burns – not just gas – doesn’t burn properly.

In the UK, there are more than 4,000 visits to Accident and & Emergency for treatment of CO poisoning – which can often lead to lasting neurological damage.

Symptoms of CO poisoning are often confused with flu, especially in winter, as they include severe headaches, a sore throat, dizziness, coughing, feeling sick, and a general lack of energy

Did you know?

  • 22 million homes in the UK have gas appliances, with likely 14 million gas boilers and around 40,000 faulty appliances releasing CO
  • 5% – 10% of households have a CO alarm, with this figure dropping to 2% in areas of multiple deprivation

What to do if you suspect carbon monoxide poisoning

  • Get everyone outside into fresh air immediately
  • Call the National Gas Emergency Service on 0800 111 999
  • And if there is a medical emergency, don’t delay, ‘phone 999
  • More information on carbon monoxide poisoning can be found here 

The Competition – How it works

We’re looking for creative ways to highlight the dangers of carbon monoxide.  From posters to videos, the more creative the better.

We’ll pick a regional winner from Key Stage 1 & 2, which covers most of Yorkshire, the North East and northern Cumbria, who will each receive £150 for themselves and £300 for their school or organisation.

Our area winners will then go forward to a national competition where they have a chance to win a further £300 for themselves and £600 for their school or organisation.

How to enter

To enter, email gdnco_competition@northerngas.co.uk

All entries must be received by 31 December 2024.

Full terms and conditions can be found below.

Competition Terms and Conditions

  1. The competition is coordinated by the Gas Distribution Networks (GDN’s) Carbon Monoxide Collaboration Group.
  2. The competition asks entrants to produce an informative, accurate and eye-catching piece of media warning of the dangers of Carbon Monoxide (CO) poisoning and/or fumes and/or how to avoid them. Material about CO and how to avoid it a can be found at https://safetyseymour.co.uk/, https://www.thecocrew.co.uk/, and for Wales and West Utilities; https://www.wwutilities.co.uk/services/safe-warm/get-creative-be-safe/
  3. Entrants are eligible to enter the competition if they are currently aged 5-11 at a school/organisation (which can include mainstream or Special Educational Needs schools and uniformed organisations such as Scouts, Brownies and Guides etc.) in Great Britain, or are 5 -11 years of age and home educated in Great Britain.
  4. Entrants can use any medium (poster, video, short story, poem, model, painting etc.) provided it is the individual entrant’s own individual and original work.
  5. Entries must be submitted in the form of a JPEG photograph or coloured scan or as a link/attachment (if entry is in video or digital form), and emailed along with the entrant’s name, age, school/organisation and post code ton each GDN specific email (1 entry per entrant). Please note that submissions received by other means will not be entered into the competition
  6. Entries are required to be submitted by midnight Tuesday 31st December 2024 .
  7. There will be ten area winners, one from age group 5-7 and one from age group 8-11 within each area represented by Cadent, Northern Gas Networks and SGN, and one from age group 5-7 and one from age group 8-11 within each of Wales and West Utilities areas. The GDN’s and their corresponding areas are as follows: Cadent = North West of England, East of England, West Midlands and London; Northern Gas Networks = Northern England; SGN = Southern England, Scotland; Wales & West Utilities = Wales, and South West England. There will be one national winner from each age group chosen from the pool of area winners. If you’re not sure which GDN you are in, you can check using your postcode at www.findmyGDN.co.uk.
  8. Winning entries will be judged on their creative merit and effectiveness of their carbon monoxide poisoning safety awareness message. Area winners will be judged by representatives from their corresponding GDN and then the national winner will be judged by a panel of representatives from the four GDN’s including an independent member whose name is available on request. The judges’ decision on all matters will be final.
  9. The area winners will receive £150 each and £300 for their school/organisation*. The national winner will receive £300 for themselves and £600 for their school/organisation*.
  10. The area winners will be notified in writing to their school/organisation or home school contact by the end of January 2025. The area winners will be publicly announced via social media and/or a local press release from the corresponding
    GDN and their entries may be put on display in the media or used to create further awareness.
  11. The national winning entry will be notified in writing and publicly announced via press release by the end of April 2025.
  12. The competition is being sponsored by Cadent, Northern Gas Networks, SGN, and Wales & West Utilities.
  13. Upon entry, all entrants agree that all copyright and other intellectual rights to the entries will become the property of the Gas Distribution Networks.
    * For those entrants who are home-educated, parents can nominate either a school/organisation, Local Education Authority,
    or carbon monoxide safety charity to receive the winning prize for the ‘school/organisation’. For further information please email your corresponding GDN at the following email addresses:
    a. Cadent: box.COcompetition@cadentgas.com
    b. Northern Gas Networks: gdnco_competition@northerngas.co.uk
    c. SGN: community@sgn.co.uk
    d. Wales & West Utilities: gasambassador@wwutilities.co.uk
Looking for something else?