Grieving family in lamp ban plea

The family of an entrepreneur who grew up in Staffordshire are campaigning to get a gas lamp withdrawn from sale after he died from carbon monoxide poisoning following a camping trip.

Paul Griffiths, aged 43, who spent time as a boy in Cannock and later attended Blessed William Howard School in Stafford, died in 2007.

He was poisoned because a gas lamp was not positioned correctly.

Mr Griffiths was a successful businessman setting up mobile phone company Dialogue Communications which was one of the first companies to offer text message services to businesses and consumers. His father, a retired police chief, is now campaigning to get the lamp taken off the market to ensure the safety of other people who may purchase one.

Mr Griffiths grew up in Longford Road, Cannock, before moving around the county with his policeman father. He later lived in Stafford where he spent a number of years at the Blessed William Howard School.

Mr Griffiths was living with his family in Sheffield at the time of his death. He had been camping with friends when he died from carbon monoxide poisoning from a Campingaz Lumostar C270PZ.

Tests carried out by the Forensic Science Service show that if the glass shade is not positioned correctly, the lamp produces carbon monoxide in potentially lethal quantities.

When Mr Griffiths lit his gas lamp that evening he didn't realise that the design allowed the glass shade to be placed in two different positions.

Although the lamp looked safe and burns brightly whichever position the shade is in, tests by the Forensic Science Service have since shown that in one of the positions, the lamp produces potentially lethal quantities of carbon monoxide.

A narrative verdict was given at an inquest held into his death last year which said the cause of death was due to a lamp "capable of misassembly". The issue has been taken up by a charity devoted to the dangers caused by carbon monoxide poisoning.

His father Derek Griffiths, who lives in Church Stretton, Shropshire, is now campaigning to get the lamp taken off the shelves.

He said: "I really don't want the same thing which happened to Paul to happen to anyone else who goes camping. As a family, we are appalled that this lamp is still on the market.

"We are doing all we can to put pressure on the company to withdraw this lamp from the market. We don't want anyone to suffer like we have."