Car exhaust "Prank" could have been fatal for Gosforth mum and baby

A Newcastle mum has spoken of her terror after a “prank” on her car almost killed her and her 18 month old daughter.

“I just started crying, straight away I was panicking, I picked up my daughter and I was absolutely devastated.”

That’s Jennifer Storey, who is a volunteer breast feeding peer supporter; she was driving to Muddy Monsters – a playgroup in Gateshead, when her car began to break down – on arrival, the breakdown service came out to help.

Jen tells us the repairman took one look at the exhaust pipe – which had been blocked with expandable foam; the kind found on building sites – and called an ambulance.

Little did Jennifer know, as they had been driving, the deadly carbon monoxide gas which should have been released through the exhaust was being circulated back into the car – breathed in by her and toddler Lily.

They were rushed to hospital, where luckily the gas had done no lasting damage, though Jen tells us it was heart breaking having to watch her baby go through the blood tests;

“It was awful, and it took them a few attempts to try and get it with her being so small as well, it was just awful seeing her go through that and not be able to explain to her why this is happening;

“You know – it’s not your fault and somebody’s done this and is making us have to go through this.”

Carbon monoxide is highly poisonous and can kill if breathed in for long enough – Jen tells us it’s lucky they were only in the car for a short time;

“If you stopped and thought about what the consequences could have been we’ve been really really lucky, you know, if we’d been going on a longer car journey or if the car hadn’t lost power in the way that it did who knows what could have happened?”

Now Jennifer, who lives in Gosforth with her partner Jonny and baby Lily, is angry that someone could do something so thoughtless, but is worried it could happen again;

“Expandable foam – it’s not really something you just carry around with you, someone has been walking around in the night with this, so it seems to me they’ve kind of planned to do it,

“Makes it all seem a bit more sinister.”