RESIDENTS on a Burnley street have been filmed by a BBC TV crew after a woman claimed leaking gas was making her ill.

The consumer affairs programme Here and Now visited homes in Hurstwood Avenue after hearing of the strange case of resident Christine Thompson who has to live and sleep in her conservatory and garden because of a mysterious illness.

The condition, which Christine says leaves her crippled by blinding headaches and numbness, has puzzled doctors and left the long-suffering 56-year-old in despair.

She has undergone several medical tests but doctors are baffled and have been unable to find suitable medication to solve the problem.

Although doctors have been unable to confirm it, Christine is convinced she is being poisoned by leaking gas seeping in from outside her home. She and husband Philip turned off their gas supply to their house six months ago when the problem first came to light.

Since then they have had to rely on electric heaters for warmth, an electric shower to wash and the kettle to provide hot water.

Gas engineers initially found a number of minor leaks in the house and they were sealed off, but the headaches and pain continued for Christine.

A spokesman for Transco, part of British Gas, said: "We have visited this house ten times since the beginning of June and our engineers have not found any particular problem.

"The equipment we use can detect the smallest amount of gas, far less than a human nose can detect.

"We've also visited the next door neighbour's house on several occasions and not found any problem." The BBC contacted Christine after she had read a magazine article about a woman who had experienced a similar mystery. The woman put the TV company in touch with Christine.

"The BBC film crew came up with experts and visited about ten houses around here," said Christine. "They tested the houses for monoxide gas and now they are going to give the results to Burnley Council."

"I'm really getting to the end of my tether with this. I've been to the doctors who can't find anything wrong and won't help me.

"I've contacted the council's environmental health department and we've had the gas engineers around here but no-one can seem to come up with an answer."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.