ONE hundred lucky Examiner readers are receiving free carbon monoxide detectors in our new safety campaign.

We teamed up with British Gas to give away the detectors, worth £22.99 each, after revealing that a detector we gave away last year may have saved a Newsome couple's life.

In the end we had just over 1,100 entries for the latest giveaway.

British Gas joined the Examiner to give away 1,000 detectors last March following three tragic deaths in Huddersfield - including that of 10-year-old Fartown boy Dominic Rodgers in February, 2004.

Carbon monoxide fumes from a boiler in a neighbouring house seeped through a passageway into his bedroom.

In March last year Kam Shing Lam and his wife, Hisu Ying Lam, died in their flat above their Chinese takeaway on Woodhead Road, Lockwood. A faulty gas fire was blamed.

One of the people to pick up a free detector from the Examiner then was Glenys Beardsell, of Newsome.

She fixed it to the wall in her sitting room and it went off one evening last month while Glenys and husband John were sitting reading.

It alerted them to leaking carbon monoxide after their boiler developed a fault.

Glenys said at the time: "I don't think it's an overstatement to say it may well have saved our lives."

After hearing about the close call, British Gas corporate affairs manager Mark Duffell stepped forward with a further 100 detectors.

We asked people to send in postcards and picked 100 out of the hat from 1,102 sent in.

The lucky 100 are now receiving letters telling them they are winners.

One is 85-year-old Mrs Phyl Schofield, of Nabcroft Lane, Crosland Moor.

Mrs Schofield had a lucky week, winning a box of biscuits and a set of glass coasters in raffles at Huddersfield Blind Society before learning she had won one of the gas detectors.

She said: "I was going to ask about detectors when the annual check was done on my gas appliances. But a friend came round and we filled in a postcard and sent it off in the competition instead.

"I've always read the Examiner, and my parents did before me. But this is the first time I've ever won anything."

Mr Duffell said: "People should have a carbon monoxide detector in every room where there is a gas appliance.

"That's why we have made them so affordable. I hope the campaign underlines once more the importance of every home having these detectors."

Examiner editor Roy Wright said: "We have been overwhelmed once more with the response by readers wanting the chance to get a free carbon monoxide detector.

"It shows the demand is there and we hope that anyone who has not won a detector in our draw will now seriously contemplate buying one.

"Nothing can be more important than safety in the home - and thanks to the generosity of British Gas 100 houses in Huddersfield will now be safer."

When the 1,000 detectors were given away last year the response was amazing.

All of them were snapped up in just two hours by readers who came to our Queen Street South reception desk.

"We were amazed by the response that day," said Mr Duffell. "But carbon monoxide detectors are a vital second line of defence.

"The first is to make sure all your gas appliances are serviced every year by a Corgi-registered engineer."

Anyone buying a carbon monoxide detector should make sure it conforms to BSDN 50291 standard.

The British Gas carbon monoxide monitors have in-built batteries. They last five years and warn people when the battery is running low.

People then need to buy a new detector.

* Anyone who would like to buy a carbon monoxide detector from British Gas should phone 0116 250 3128.

They cost £22.99, which includes postage.