Love thrown in with boiler repair

06/06/2008

When a Walsall woman called in a plumber to fix her boiler she didn't expect true love to be thrown into the service.

Gail Butwell, of Park Hall, asked Jem Tonks from Diamond Maintenance Services to repair her central-heating boiler when it broke two years ago, reports the Wolverhampton Express and Star.

Although Ms Butwell thought Mr Tonks was not her type, the plumber liked her from the start and their relationship began to heat up as he continued to do maintenance work at her home.

By the time Mr Butwell turned up to service her boiler in May 2007, Ms Butwell's feeling towards him were as warm as underfloor heating and when he asked her out she decided to accept.

The couple quickly moved in together and plan to marry this year, after the plumber popped the question last August.

"I was only after a decent workman. I wasn't actually looking for a husband - that was a bonus," Ms Butwell quipped to the newspaper.

Last month, the BBC reported that a Portsmouth woman discovered something other than love in her boiler.

Pest control experts called to her house found a four-foot orange snake was hiding in the heating unit.