Barbecue gas kills bike lover

Published on Tuesday 6 July 2010 16:04

A MAN has died from carbon monoxide poisoning after sleeping next to a cooling barbecue.

David Swallow, 29, was rushed to intensive care after his father found him unconscious, but died four days later.

Keen motorcyclist David was camping in his van after spending the day at East Fortune Raceway in East Lothian with friends and his father Bill, 59, himself a well-known classic motorcycle racer.

"When we came back it had got a bit chilly and the barbecue was just outside with a bit of heat in it," Mr Swallow said.

"We put it in the back of David's van and sat round it to keep warm.

"We'd decided to stay on the circuit, so David was sleeping in his van, I was sleeping in mine.

"We all went our separate ways at about half eleven and didn't think anything of it." The following day, 20 June, their friend opened the van door at 7:30am to get some tools out and David appeared to be sleeping. Mr Swallow looked in on his son at 8am, and also assumed he was sleeping.

He said: "About half past eight I went in to shake him and he was unconscious and struggling to breathe, looking as if he'd had a fit."

David was rushed to intensive care at the ERI, where he was sedated and put on a ventilator.

It was only in the ambulance that Mr Swallow realised the barbecue could have been behind his son's illness.

He said: "When he didn't regain consciousness in the ambulance I thought it was unlikely to be an epileptic fit and thought 'Goodness me, could it have been the barbecue?', which we thought was pretty well out."

He mentioned the theory to the doctors, who found high levels of carbon monoxide in David's blood.

"From the outset they did tell me he was very, very ill," Mr Swallow said.

"At the end of Thursday morning the doctor said 'I think David's got serious brain damage and all we can really do is try him off the support and see what happens'.

"They tried that but unfortunately he couldn't breathe by himself."

Mr Swallow, who lives in Yorkshire, said in tribute to his son, who died on 24 June: "He was a lovely lad, didn't have a bad side to him at all. He was a lovely, lovely boy."

David, who lived in Cheadle, Cheshire, is survived by his wife Ruth, brother Chris and his father. They have asked for donations to be made to the ERI's intensive care department in lieu of funeral flowers, and Mr Swallow paid tribute to staff who had battled to save his son's life.

"The consultants and the nurses in Edinburgh were absolutely brilliant, and took David to their hearts," Mr Swallow said.

Police said there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding the death and a report has been sent to the procurator fiscal.