A mother believes she and her four children are lucky to be alive after living with an undiscovered gas leak at their council house.

Paula Khier, 34, had suspected there had been a leak at her home since moving in 18 months ago.

And when an engineer was sent around to the property he quickly discovered gas leaking into their home from a corroded pipe.

Yesterday Mrs Khier criticised Adur District Council and accused staff of putting her family in danger.

She said: "I used to live in a flat in Southwick but was offered a house in Stoney Lane, Shoreham. I went to see the house with an occupational therapist as I've got a disabled child who has Down's Syndrome and is partially sighted.

"There were two old fireplaces with two condemned gas fires in them. The therapist recommended them be taken out and the gas pipes underneath the floor to be isolated and capped."

Council contractors removed the fires when she moved in 18 months ago but Ms Khier is convinced they did not do the job correctly.

She said: "I called the council on several occasions because I could smell gas and they came out and said there was no leak."

On Saturday Ms Khier smelt gas again and contacted the council. She was told to contact National Grid, formerly known as Transco, which is responsible for the upkeep of gas pipes.

An engineer was out within the hour and immediately found the leak in the lounge gas pipe which he fixed.

Mrs Khier said: "To say that I'm angry is an understatement. The council have not only put my life but the lives of my children in jeopardy. I've got no faith where I'm living and I'm going to be asking them for somewhere else to live. Ever since we have moved in there we have all been quite poorly.

"I always keep a window open in the house but quite often I have sat in the lounge and thought I could smell gas. Every time they came out they said it wasn't so then I was thinking maybe it's not my gas, maybe it's something else.

"It was getting really cold on Saturday so I shut the window and then I could smell the gas really strongly."

Ms Khier and her children are now waiting for blood tests at Worthing Hospital and believe the gas leak was responsible for her five-year-old son collapsing three times in eight days during August.

A spokeswoman for Adur District Council said: "Since Mrs Khier moved into the property in Stoney Road we have had one complaint from her regarding suspicions of a gas leak and carbon monoxide poisoning.

"This was in April this year. This was tested by BSW, our Corgi-registered gas contractors, who found there was no gas leak or risk of carbon monoxide poisoning at this time. "There have been no further complaints about this until the problem at the weekend.

"All our gas appliances are serviced by Corgi-registered gas contractors and there has never at any time been a risk of carbon monoxide poisoning. It is unfortunate that the natural gas leak occurred. This was found to be caused by corrosion to the pipe under a concrete floor.

"The leak was rectified immediately by National Grid and following their action the council's gas installers have since checked it out again onsite.

"Mrs Khier clearly has worries about carbon monoxide poisoning and to alleviate her fears I am happy to have a carbon monoxide detector installed."