UK travellers can now buy portable carbon monoxide (CO) alarms at airports following a campaign by the family of a British man who died in Ecuador.
As of 28 August, “UltraFire Travel Carbon Monoxide Detectors” are on sale at 14 airports and one railway station in the UK.
London Gatwick, Heathrow, Edinburgh, Manchester and Newcastle are among airports selling the £25 travel alarms in a first for UK airport retailers.
A partnership between Safelincs, the UK’s largest fire safety retailer, and WH Smith, aims to access millions of passengers who travel through UK airports every week.
Carbon monoxide can cause serious illness or death. It is colourless and odourless, so impossible to identify without a detector.
The NHS advice notes that symptoms of CO poisoning include dizziness, headaches and shortness of breath.
The introduction of detectors in airports follows efforts from the Pack Safe Appeal, created by the family of Hudson Foley, 24, who died from carbon monoxide poisoning at a homestay in Ecuador in August 2023.
First launched in August 2024, one year after Hudson’s death, The Pack Safe Appeal worked in partnership with UK charity the Safer Tourism Foundation to campaign for carbon monoxide travel safety.
According to the campaign, a 2015 coroner’s report following the death of two British children from carbon monoxide poisoning in Corfu warned a decade ago that “lives would be lost unless CO alarms were made more readily available to travellers.”
Cathy Foley, Hudson’s mother and founder of the Pack Safe Appeal, said: "When Hudson died, we knew we had to do everything in our power to make sure no other family suffered this kind of loss.
“Seeing portable CO alarms in airports — right where travellers can pick one up before boarding a plane — is a huge milestone for us and an incredible step in our efforts to save lives.”
The potentially lifesaving devices will also be stocked in 29 InMotion stores, WH Smith’s airport electricals brand, across the UK.
In February, the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) agreed to update its travel advice to warn of the dangers of carbon monoxide while travelling.
Dr Al Pinkerton, the Surrey Heath MP involved in the Pack Safe Appeal, added: “The FCDO’s updated travel guidance was an important step, but awareness alone is not enough. Having portable CO alarms readily available in airports will help prevent more tragic deaths from this silent killer."
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