Hoverboards ‘could have caught fire or exploded’
MORE than 2,000 untested hoverboards that were due on sale were ‘capable of catching fire, giving an electric shock or exploding,’ Manchester council has said.
Moguland Trading Company in Cheetham has been fined nearly £50,000 after trading standards found the firm failed to test the motorised scooters.
Officers slapped a withdrawal notice on 1,015 of its hoverboards, while a further import of 1,364 boards were also recalled.
The dangerous batteries and chargers were taken and destroyed by the council.
None of the products had gone on sale, but were sent to a specialist laboratory, which discovered that the battery in the hoverboards ‘did not have a charging cut-off, leaving it prone to becoming unstable and overheating, potentially resulting in fire or explosion’, the council said.
“The product’s charger was also determined to be unsafe, carrying a risk of electric shock,” Manchester council said in a statement.
Moguland pleaded guilty to two safety regulation offences at Manchester Crown Court. The firm was fined £27,000 and ordered to pay costs of £20,684 – a total penalty of £47,684.
Executive member for neighbourhoods, councillor Rabnawaz Akbar, said: “Moguland Trading Limited recklessly imported these goods without testing them. Without our trading standards team’s intervention, genuinely dangerous products with the potential to catch fire or even explode could have been put into the hands of Manchester residents.
“The fine handed down demonstrates the severity of this offence and I’m relieved that we were able to intercept these unsafe hoverboards before any of them could be supplied to the public.”