John Gregory plays key role as Expert Witness and Incident Investigator
John Gregory is a highly experienced and professionally qualified Expert Witness and Incident Investigator for CORGI Technical Services and is involved with many of the around 100 suspected Carbon Monoxide (CO)incidents a year reported to CORGI, often representing gas suppliers and enforcement bodies.
With over thirty-five years’ experience in the gas industry of which the last twenty have been spent working for CORGI, John manages and participates in fatal and non-fatal CO incidents caused by gas appliances. After successfully completing an Expert Witness course a number of years ago to become a member of the Academy of Expert Witnesses, and becoming accredited by Cardiff University as an Expert Witness, John is one of only a small group of qualified and accredited Expert Witnesses in the UK for Gas incidents.
John commented: “My role calls me to incidents soon after they have happened so that I can investigate the cause. Earlier this year I was called to Cornwall to investigate a fatality in a guest house. A friend of the lady owner of the guest house received a telephone call from her early in the morning when she sounded disorientated. Shortly afterwards, she and her three dogs were found dead at the property. The previous night it was very cold and issues with the ventilation and flue termination to the boiler were identified. Sadly it was a case of CO poisoning. My role was to investigate, gather all of the details and send my conclusions and report to the relevant organisations. I will undoubtedly be called to give evidence at the Inquest when it takes place.”
“In these cases I liaise with the local police and gas supplier, but also carry out my own detailed examination of the scene,” added John. ”I often find that the installation of the suspect appliance had not been undertaken correctly or there is a lack of servicing and maintenance of the appliance. There is no substitute for properly installed appliances and regular safety checks.”