A pregnant mother was nearly killed by a pothole after it damaged her exhaust and filled her car with deadly fumes. 

Lucy Barnard, 26, was driving back to her house on Walney Island in Cumbria, when she suddenly heard a rattling sound after her Ford Fiesta hit a pothole.

Moments later, the carbon monoxide detector she had fitted in her car after her brother was killed by the colourless and odourless gas in 2023, began to rise. 

When she arrived back at the house, which she shares with her partner Callum Legge, 25, and their two children, she tested to see if the exhaust was leaking. 

To her horror, the carbon monoxide levels inside her vehicle had reached as high as 180 parts per million, which can be deadly to humans. 

Ms Barnard, who is six months pregnant, said her father, Terry, 63, looked at the car and noticed that her exhaust had been badly damaged by the pothole. 

'We shot out of the car and haven't used it since,' Ms Barnard said. 

'We plan to scrap it as to fix it will cost almost as much as we bought it for so there was no point.

'We also don't feel comfortable if we did get it fixed, getting inside or somehow having it just in case it was to leak again.'

Ms Barnard is particularly aware of the dangers of carbon monoxide after her 36-year-old brother Michael died when his car filled up with the deadly gas in August 2023. 

Ms Barnard said: 'It's given me a bit of PTSD in a way.

'It is heartbreaking to have experienced how my brother died.

'I feel so lucky that we had the detector and that I followed my own advice of not travelling in a car unless it has one in it.

'If we didn't know it could have killed us. It is all a strange coincidence that it happened to my family.

'I knew exactly what was happening when we were doing the test, and it really was scary.

'You see this kind of thing happening and think it'll never happen to you - but then it does, and it puts it all into perspective.

'This just proves it can happen to anyone at any time in any car model.'

An inquest at Cockermouth Coroners' Court in February 2024 heard Michael's carboxyhemoglobin levels were at 63 per cent when he died. 

The average level for a non-smoker is between one and two per cent, and in smokers it is five to 10 percent, according to the NHS. 

The court heard Michael was killed by the toxic gas after it entered his car through the faulty heating system while he was parked in his favourite spot on Walney Beach, Cumbria. 

He was later found by a dog walker, who had raised the alarm after she saw Michael slumped in the driver's seat at around 6.35am the next morning, August 18.

Ms Barnard said that after they suspected their car was leaking carbon monoxide, the first test they did was to open the windows to see if the levels went down, which they did. 

They then decided to pull the windows up and turn the heating system on full, which caused it to spike 180 particles per million (ppm).

Around 200ppm or greater will cause physical symptoms and can be fatal within hours, according to co2metre.com. 

It is particularly dangerous for pregnant women, according to the NHS, as carbon monoxide exposure can reduce the amount of oxygen reaching the baby in the womb, potentially affecting its growth and development.

Ms Barnard is calling for greater awareness of carbon monoxide risks in vehicles, warning that the 'silent killer' could be affecting more people than realised.

She is campaigning for all cars to be fitted with carbon monoxide detectors as a legal requirement. 

Ms Barnard started a petition last year and needs 100,000 signatures for the UK Parliament's Petition Committee to consider whether the issue should be debated.

She said: 'This could be happening to so many.

'It's absolutely crazy. I think there will be more deaths if this isn't addressed.'

Reflecting on the incident, Ms Barnard believes the presence of the detector ultimately saved her family.

'It was me, my partner and my children in the car,' she said.

'It could have taken all of our lives.'

'This is definitely not spoken about enough.'