Meet the super-sniffer whose nose can save lives

Many people with a finely attuned sense of smell choose to become experts in the delicate bouquets of fine wines, perfumes or coffee.

Not James Dyson.

Instead, he makes a living as a professional "gas sniffer", detecting the nasty niff of rotten eggs that can alert us to potentially deadly leaks.

Dyson is one of four rhinologists - to give them their official title - working for Cadent, which supplies natural gas to 2.7 million homes and businesses in north-western England.

His nose can literally save lives.

"We help make sure all our pipelines are odorised," he explained. "As long as the public can smell gas, they can report it."

Speaking at a remote compound surrounded by tall security fences, Dyson wears protective clothing as, all around him, are huge overground pipes which resemble the humps of the Loch Ness Monster as they emerge from the ground.

One pipe has small valves that can be opened to sample the gas within.

Dyson stoops forward to push his face downwards into a black rubber mask.

After inhaling for about 15 seconds, he stands upright and smiles.

Not having a clue what we are doing, I enquire: "How's that?"

"Yeah - rotten eggs," comes his reply. "That's good!"

He checks the gas reading on a blue device.

"That's the perfect mix - 1% gas and 99% air," he declares.

As part of his role, James sniffs the pipes every month.

He admits it is not something he tends to advertise at parties.

"A lot of people look at you funny and think 'that's a strange job'," he says.

"But it's a very serious job. It's an important part of the network - to make sure the gas can smell."

The 42-year-old has trained himself to know if the odour is too pungent "in the same way people who sniff perfumes or wine would do".

He invites me to inhale and I step forward.

"Ooh, that's horrible," I tell him.

To me, it smells eggy with a hint of spoiled cabbage.

The smell of the gas we use at home is designed to be unpleasant because, in its natural form, it is colourless and odourless.

The distinctive aroma that we associate with methane is actually a man-made chemical that is added.

Without it, a dangerous leak could build up without anyone noticing.

Across the North West, gas flows underground through a labyrinth of pipes, some of which are up to 100 years old.

Leaks are detected by driving over or near to the pipes in a car fitted with sensors and GPS tracking.

"If there was a leak, it would set an alarm off," explains the vehicle's driver Paul McLernon.

Cadent's regional head of safety and engineering Nick Jerman explains that the car helps them to "understand the health of our pipelines".

With 28,000 miles of pipes, it is a big job.

"So far this year, we've covered just over half of the network and we're aiming to get the rest done by March 2027," says Jerman.

Last year in the region, Cadent received 67,000 reports of potentially lethal gas leaks.

"Nothing is a waste of our time," engineer Steve Addinall tells me before adding that he usually deals with "four or five" callouts each day.

"I'd rather turn up to a job and find nothing than find something that could put you in a dangerous situation," he says.

Recalling a visit to an elderly woman in Manchester, he says speed is of the essence.

"It turns out she'd left the gas hobs on, filling the house full of gas.

"We isolated that risk and got her out of the property. If we hadn't done that, it could have been catastrophic."

If you smell gas, you should call Cadent on 0800 111 999 and wait for an engineer. Cadent recommends turning off your gas supply and open doors and windows. Lights and other electrical devices should not be turned on.

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