‘Millions of dangerous machines in UK homes’

US white goods manufacturer Whirlpool is not taking its responsibility for safety seriously enough, leaving millions of dangerous machines in British homes, a former minister has warned.

Tory peer Baroness Neville-Rolfe questioned whether the existing UK product recall system was fit for purpose and argued that lives were at risk.

The former Tesco executive raised her concerns in the wake of a safety alert over the fire risk posed by faulty Hotpoint, Indesit and Creda tumble dryers.

Whirlpool, which owns the brands, has faced criticism over its handling of the crisis. The firm has warned consumers to unplug affected models until they had been repaired.

The Government has also come under pressure for the product safety and recall system to be strengthened. These calls were renewed recently after a coroner concluded a faulty Hotpoint tumble dryer was the cause of a fire that killed two men in north Wales.

Raising her concerns in the House of Lords, Lady Neville-Rolfe said: “Whirlpool is a US company that is not taking its responsibility for safety seriously enough, leaving millions of dangerous machines in our British homes. Is the present recall system fit for purpose or do we need urgently to introduce and resource some central focus of responsibility when we have a massive recall?”

Responding, government frontbencher Viscount Younger of Leckie said the issue was a matter for trading standards and pointed out in the case of Whirlpool, some 1.7 million dryers had so far been modified.

He said: “The resolution rate is over 40%, far higher than the average.”