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Smell gas or fear carbon monoxide at night: what to do right now
What to do if you smell gas at night in London: call the National Gas Emergency number 0800 111 999, what to do and not do inside, and the warning signs of carbon monoxide.
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Emergency trades and callouts in London at night
Trades, care and emergency callouts — and how to check who you are letting through the door.
Every emergency callout has the same shape. Something has failed, it is the wrong time of night, and the first decision you make is who to let into your home. That decision is worth more than the repair.
Do the free checks first
Almost every one of these problems has steps you can take yourself, before anyone travels, that either fix it or make the repair cheaper.
- A burst pipe or a leak. Turn the water off, drain the system, protect the boiler and the heating — then decide who to ring. The first five minutes are worth thousands. See burst pipe at 3am.
- Lights out, or a trip switch that keeps going. Check whether it is just you or the whole street, then go and look at the consumer unit, then find the appliance causing it. There is also a legal line on what you may not do yourself. See what to check before calling an electrician.
- No heating or hot water. Four free checks, in order. If you rent, the standard your landlord must meet is stronger than most tenants think, and there is a free entitlement almost nobody claims. See no heating or hot water.
Checking who you are calling
This is the part that matters, and it takes about two minutes.
Gas is the exception that is not optional. Anyone working on gas in the UK must be Gas Safe registered. That is the law, not a preference, and the register is public and checkable in seconds. If someone is not on it, the conversation is over.
For electrics, plumbing and water, and general trades, there are competent-person schemes and trade registers that can be checked at the source rather than trusted from a logo on a van. Locksmiths are the unregulated one — no licence exists at all, which is why they get their own treatment on our sister site, where every guide is about the one trade with no regulator behind it.
The registers for each trade, the universal checks that apply whatever the trade, and what to do if it goes wrong afterwards, are in how to check any UK tradesperson in two minutes.
Do this now, not at 3am
The single highest-value ten minutes on this whole site: find your stopcock, find your consumer unit, and save one checked number for a plumber and one for an electrician. All three are trivial on a Tuesday afternoon and close to impossible while water is coming through a ceiling.
We refer to registers, not to firms
We name no trades. Every route here points at the official register — Gas Safe, the electrical competent-person schemes, WaterSafe, TrustMark — because a register you can check yourself is worth more than a recommendation from a page with something to gain.
The essential numbers are collected on emergency numbers and essential services.
Read further
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Taps dry? How to tell your plumbing from a mains fault, which company supplies your part of London, where to check, and what you are owed.
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Power cut in London: is it your home or the street?
Lights out? How to tell a tripped switch from a real power cut, the number to call in London, the live outage map, and what you are owed.
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Burst pipe at 3am: the first five minutes
Water does more damage per minute than almost anything else in a home. Find the stopcock, kill the supply, protect the electrics — then worry about a plumber.
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How to check any UK tradesperson in two minutes
Gas, electrics, plumbing, locks, childcare — which registers are legally required, which are voluntary, and how to verify someone at 2am before you let them through the door.
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Lights out, or the trip switch keeps going: what to check before calling an electrician
Half of night-time electrical callouts are a power cut or one faulty appliance. Both are free to diagnose. Here is the order — and the legal line you must not cross.
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No heating or hot water: what to do tonight, and how fast a landlord must act
A boiler failing in January is treated very differently from one failing in July. What counts as an emergency, the 24-hour standard, and the free help most people never claim.