Trader 'poisoned' by tram works

One woman was even taken to hospital with high levels of carbon in her system, which she claims is linked to gas main work on Constitution Street earlier this month.

She had to take the rest of the week off work, while other business owners in the area said they were plagued by headaches for days after.

Tram firm TIE has rubbished the claims, saying a full investigation into the matter had found that it was simply not possible the work on an old pipe could cause carbon poisoning of any kind.

The traders are convinced there is a link, however, to the work, which saw workers release natural gas into the air from an old pipe.

Sara Morgan, 40, who works in Carolyn Designer Florist – owned by her mother – said she arrived for work on 11 August and began feeling ill as the morning wore on.

She reported headaches and breathing difficulties as the work – supervised by Scotia Gas Networks – took place directly outside the shop.

A colleague eventually took her home after he found her "slumped over the counter", and she later contacted her GP, who told her to go to accident and emergency at the ERI.

Ms Morgan, who lives in the Crewe Toll area of the city, said her suspicion was aroused because of the strong smell of gas lingering in the air and the similar ill-effects on those nearby.

"The hospital ran some blood tests on me and said there was an unusually high level of carbon in my blood," she said.

"They said it wasn't at the level where it was dangerous, and I was just to go home and rest for a few days and take some aspirin.

"We've actually got a decent relationship with TIE. They always tell us if they're doing even the smallest thing, but they hadn't notified us at all of this."

Another colleague in the shop, who wished to remain anonymous, added: "You should have seen the colour of her face.

"I wasn't in the shop as long as she was, so I just had bad headaches. It could only have been that work."

The odour in gas is installed on purpose so any leaks can be detected by smell.

And while TIE and SGN have ruled out the possibility of that gas causing the poisoning, experts have said that some old town pipes contained partly nitrogen and partly hydrogen, meaning carbon monoxide poisoning wouldn't be completely out of the question.

Ritchie Bains, who runs the nearby Boneyard Tattoo Studio, added: "The smell of gas was incredible. By that night I had a splitting headache, and I'm not prone to them at all. So much so it woke me up later that night."

Bob Cummins, head of health and safety for the Edinburgh Tram Project, said: "We have undertaken comprehensive investigations into a complaint received regarding tram-related gas operations conducted on Constitution Street on 11 August. They concluded that the tram activities could in no way have given rise to any suspected carbon monoxide poisoning.

"Carbon monoxide was not involved in any part of the operations. The works involved natural gas, which is primarily methane with other trace components, including an added odorant.

"The gas operatives doing the work wore personal gas monitors designed to alert the wearer to potentially hazardous levels of gas in the atmosphere. They did not indicate that hazardous levels of gas had been allowed to build up during the operation."

A spokesman for SGN added: "An abandonment operation was taking place on a redundant section of the pipe and SGN was on-site. People in the area would have smelled the gas odour, but there was never any danger to anyone."