Devastated dad 'wants old life back' after fire kills girlfriend and both kids

02 November 2023 , 17:59

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Lilly Peden, eight, and Oliver Peden, four, died after a fire (Image: Facebook / East Anglia News Service)

A father who lost his family in June 2023 due to a fire thought to have been caused by a faulty e-bike battery has called for stronger regulations on the devices.

Scott Peden spent four weeks in an induced coma after the fire in Cambridge, while his partner Gemma Germeney, 31, and children Lilly, eight, and Oliver, four, all lost their lives. Gemma died at the scene while the two children succumbed to their injuries in hospital.

Scott bought the replacement e-bike battery weeks before the blaze after his was stolen, and had placed it to charge overnight, and was later woken by a loud "bang" with his bike aflame. He jumped out the window and tried to fight the fire outside, suffering multiple burns and breaking his ankle, while his partner tried get the children to safety.

Gemma died at the scene while the two children succumbed to their injuries in hospital (Facebook / East Anglia News Service)

Gemma and her family died in the fire (Facebook / East Anglia News Service)

Emergency services were called to the flats at 1.08am on June 30, with more than 30 firefighters attending. Crews arrived to find smoke issuing from the ground and first floor of a two-storey maisonette. The fire service said crews worked hard to extinguish the fire and prevent it from spreading to neighbouring properties.

Mr Peden told BBC Breakfast : "I'm dreading this new life I've been forced to start, I want my old life back. I came out of that house with nothing, not even the clothes on my back. It was a scene out of a nightmare." He was taken to hospital and placed in a coma, and said his parents had broken the tragic news to him that his family and two dogs had died.

Baby boy has spent his life in hospital as doctors are 'scared' to discharge him

Cambridgeshire Fire Service has written to the coroner requesting they push for better regulation of online sales of e-bike batteries. So far, the coroner said the matter was still "subject to investigation".

Mr Peden said: "There needs to be a law about buying second-hand batteries, they need to be checked, MOT'ed. Do not put them on charge near your exit. You do not want to be the next person to go through what I been through."

Zesha Saleem