roadtransport.com/Articles/2 … n-his.html
Deepest sympathies to the mans family.
A verdict of accidental death was recorded after a lorry driver was poisoned by a camping stove in his truck.
In October 2008, 29-year old Polish national HGV driver Slawomir Bietracki was found dead in his cab from carbon monoxide poisoning. He was parked on Avro Way, near Manchester airport.
An inquest heard that he was poisoned by using an outdoor camping stove in his lorry to keep warm at night. All windows in the HGV were closed and air vents were blocked by a fire extinguisher and an engine air intake.
Health and safety inspector Frances Mellor said the lack of oxygen in the lorry meant the cooker produced more carbon monoxide than is average.
“Carbon monoxide poisons you without you realising it. It sends you to sleep. Bietracki’s case illustrates that it is not wise to be using cooking stoves for heating,” said health and safety inspector Matt Greenly.
Best not even use one in the cab - apart from CO poisoning there is the risk of fire if you accidentally knock it over. If you have to cook in the cab then at least open the window a bit.
Drivers should take note this happens to often.A while ago I was parked overnight in Northampton about 1985 I think anyway there were about 5 or6 trucks there that night ,after a beer or two I turned in ,the day after back to wigan change over,down to London NW10 managed to get back to Northampton.Adriver called Russell was there also from the previous night but thinking about it he would have said if he was back the next night. I looked through the curtains he was still in bed I couldnt wake him I Knew then he was dead .I managed to get in ,Hed been dead for hours Police came said it looked like he fell unconcious while making a brew,Poor lad came from Stoke and was only 22. All who cook in the cab BE CAREFULL.
yer very sad stories i heard a story and it may only be a story about a driver with his large cooking gas bottle of which was faulty and been leaking apparantly he lit a ciggie and boom, he survived but if the story is true then its a lesson. also this may be in a different thread but drivers working down the road off to europe are targetted by the thieves who gas the cab do many drivers have gas alarms and wratchet the doors closed or are there other precautions that drivers use?
This thread reminds me of an incident years ago before night heaters were standard and I was in Switzerland with a truck.
I used to have a camping gaz cooker, 2 burner type that I would place on the engine cover / cowling before go to sleep so that when I woke up in the morning all I had to do was reach out, turn a burner on, fire it up and in a few minutes the cab would be warm enough to get up…that was the plan 
This one time in the middle of winter, I woke up and reached out to fire it up, when it lit I thought i would just lie there for a few minutes waiting for the cab to warm then get up so I layed back and closed my eyes…only to wake up with a sense of panic and a wickedly thumping head.
I had fallen back asleep and the gaz flame had gone out, whether it had burnt the oxygen out of the air or not I dont know, but it was pumping out pure gaz!!! 
i remember looking at my alarm clock and seeing that nearly 12 minutes had gone by from when my alarm had first gone off so I had some indication of time that I had been laying there.
Felt rough as anything for the rest of that day and the headache didnt go for ages. A lucky escape though, I didnt use the gaz stove as central heating after that!! 
Yep, gas stoves are very dangerous, I’ve personally known three workmates who have suffered severe burns due to them exploding. I once had one with a large gas bottle fed by a rubber pipe, and one day the rubber pipe fell apart in my hand, it had become so perished by the gas.
I’ve still got a gas stove, one of those flat ones with the battery type gas canisters, and they have so many fail-safe features built into them, it’s unreal. But I feel much happier with it than Calor Gaz stuff.
Having said that, this man died for want of a working night heater.
I seem to remember a story of a family in a camper van who had set up camp, but as the vehicle was parked it was close to a mud bank, the night heater exhaust was blocked and they all perished with CM poisoning
I didn’t see the accident, but saw the aftermath of the DAF that exploded in TTZ in Zeebrugge
dustylfc:
yer very sad stories i heard a story and it may only be a story about a driver with his large cooking gas bottle of which was faulty and been leaking apparantly he lit a ciggie and boom, he survived but if the story is true then its a lesson. also this may be in a different thread but drivers working down the road off to europe are targetted by the thieves who gas the cab do many drivers have gas alarms and wratchet the doors closed or are there other precautions that drivers use?
Happened to me about 3 yr ago survived but only just.Although it was a small camping stove with the butane cartridges,that nearly killed me.
bullitt:
This thread reminds me of an incident years ago before night heaters were standard and I was in Switzerland with a truck.
Felt rough as anything for the rest of that day and the headache didnt go for ages. A lucky escape though, I didnt use the gaz stove as central heating after that!!
Hi Rick, did you mention this incident on your C.V. when you joined The Fire Brigade .
Seriously though, I think that we all under estimate the risk when we use gas cookers in the cab. A good friend of mine in the days before night heaters arrived back at his cab after a few beers and lit his Camping Gaz cooker. He thought that it was a good idea to get the cab warmed up before he got into bed and to have a hot drink. While having a pee out of the cab he fell back and sat on the gas ring where a cross was branded on his buttock, I must admit that I never saw it but other drivers said that they had. A couple of weeks later his Ford Transcontinental mysteriously set on fire at Saint Valentine’s in Austria and from then on he was always known as Tony Burnout.
Maybe you or Diesel Dave might know the answer to this one Rick I did hear that technically you can’t get Carbon Monoxide poisoning from a diesel engine is this true or false ?.
The reason that I ask is that before I had a night heater I was week ending in Yugo one winter and the only thing to do to keep warm was to run the engine through the night with the heater setting on low.
The exhaust fumes I reckon must of been sucked into the cab as I woke up several hours later with a really sore stomach, feeling like I a wanted to vomit, a sore throat and my eye’s were red raw with a thumping headache which all lasted until the following day. I asked several drivers later if it was from the fumes and they said no it’s not Carbon Monoxide poisoning.
A couple of years ago we hired a house boat for a few days and after the first night I felt fairly similar to what happened all those years ago but it was a feeling that I have never forgotten and realised that my bed was the nearest to the gas operated fridge and that there was not adequate ventilation.
So all you lads keep warm this winter and it might be a good idea to make sure that you leave the window open just a little bit 
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mushroomman:
bullitt:
This thread reminds me of an incident years ago before night heaters were standard and I was in Switzerland with a truck.
Felt rough as anything for the rest of that day and the headache didnt go for ages. A lucky escape though, I didnt use the gaz stove as central heating after that!!Hi Rick, did you mention this incident on your C.V. when you joined The Fire Brigade
Seriously though, I think that we all under estimate the risk when we use gas cookers in the cab. A good friend of mine in the days before night heaters arrived back at his cab after a few beers and lit his Camping Gaz cooker. He thought that it was a good idea to get the cab warmed up before he got into bed and to have a hot drink. While having a pee out of the cab he fell back and sat on the gas ring where a cross was branded on his buttock, I must admit that I never saw it but other drivers said that they had. A couple of weeks later his Ford Transcontinental mysteriously set on fire at Saint Valentine’s in Austria and from then on he was always known as Tony Burnout.
Maybe you or Diesel Dave might know the answer to this one Rick
The reason that I ask is that before I had a night heater I was week ending in Yugo one winter and the only thing to do to keep warm was to run the engine through the night with the heater setting on low.
The exhaust fumes I reckon must of been sucked into the cab as I woke up several hours later with a really sore stomach, feeling like I a wanted to vomit, a sore throat and my eye’s were red raw with a thumping headache which all lasted until the following day. I asked several drivers later if it was from the fumes and they said no it’s not Carbon Monoxide poisoning.
A couple of years ago we hired a house boat for a few days and after the first night I felt fairly similar to what happened all those years ago but it was a feeling that I have never forgotten and realised that my bed was the nearest to the gas operated fridge and that there was not adequate ventilation.
So all you lads keep warm this winter and it might be a good idea to make sure that you leave the window open just a little bit
I’d say yes, coz your burning a “fossil” fuel using fresh air 
i wonder why he felt the need to use a gas stove?
maybe his night heater wasn’t working?
Did he report it?
maybe his boss wouldn’t get it fixed.
therefore his boss could have contributed to this blokes death.
but will his boss be arrested on suspicion of manslaughter?
hiya,
Why have oil burning night heaters??, why not harness the heat generated by the engine during daytime running??,this worked on an old F88 i had in the distant past never took advantage of it but i know the cab was always reasonably warm when i arrived at the motor in the morning never any ice to scrape off the windows and quite comfortable, the system just looked like a couple of boxes filled with a heat retaining compound and it was either “plumbed” into the cooling system or it might have been the turbo not sure which, all this was under what should have been the sleeping area and could have been quite comfortable i suppose if i’d ever had the inclination to cab it, by the way this was a very early Volvo and surely with modern day technology this could be brought up to date and be a winner.
thanks harry long retired
Even if your an agency driver or a cab hopper, get yourselves a cheap smoke/CM alarm from your local DIY store, and stick that in the cab while you kip, you can still carry it in you kit bag and stick it on the dash should you night out occasionally
I’d say yes, coz your burning a “fossil” fuel using fresh air
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Hi Howatsi, that’s also what I thought but over twenty five years ago when we had that discussion you often believed what the older drivers told you. With the help of Tinternet and after doing a Google it seems that too much of anything can eventually kill you 
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Now I shall get back to reading about Linda Lovelace 
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