Coroner criticises firm over deaths linked to cooker

THE coroner at an inquest into the deaths of five people in Cornwall due to carbon monoxide poisoning linked with their gas cookers has concluded the appliance brand committed “serious errors” when it failed to take prompt action to halt their sale.

Assistant Cornwall Coroner Geraint Williams made his comments following inquests into the deaths of Richard Smith, 30, and Kevin Branton, 34, in Saltash and husband and wife John, 90, and Audrey Cook, 86, and their daughter Maureen, 47, in Camborne. They all died after accidentally turning on the grill, as uncooked food was found in the oven.

BRITAIN’S number one-selling appliance brand committed “serious errors” when it failed to take prompt action to halt the sale of “inherently defective” gas cookers, a coroner has found.

Assistant Cornwall Coroner Geraint Williams said Beko Plc had failed to tell Trading Standards of the extent of the problem, had failed to investigate concerns linked to two other deaths, and was too slow in withdrawing cookers from sale and contacting people who had already bought them.

He made his comments in recording his conclusions at inquests into the deaths of Richard Smith, 30, and Kevin Branton, 34, and husband and wife John, 90, and Audrey Cook, 86, and their daughter Maureen, 47, who all succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning.

Mr Smith and his friend were discovered deceased in the home they shared in Saltash in November, 2010, while the Cook family were found dead inside their static caravan in Camborne in February, 2013.

They all died after accidentally turning on the grill, as uncooked food was found in the oven and their deaths were recorded as an accident.

The household appliances were manufactured in Turkey by Arçelik and have been linked to 18 deaths in the UK and Ireland from carbon monoxide poisoning. A total of 60,000 Arçelik cookers were affected by the design fault and half were sold in the UK under its Beko brand and the rest by Glen Dimplex.

The inquest heard evidence that Beko, which is Britain’s number oneselling appliance brand, knew the cookers posed a “serious risk” to health but ignored the problem for several weeks.

Trading standards was only told of Alexis Landry’s death in County Cork in January, 2009, and it was the following month before the watchdog learned of other fatalities.

Beko was first told by the Irish authorities in November, 2008, of the death of Mr Landry earlier that month after using a Glen Dimplex cooker. Arçelik then carried out tests on all its cookers and provided Beko with a list of models that produced excessive carbon monoxide.

In December, the firm learned a coroner was investigating the deaths of pensioners Boris and Vilma Green in Doncaster, two weeks after that of Mr Landry.

“Given that the contact was known to be at the behest of a coroner dealing with a fatality, I find as a fact the failure to pursue it by Beko was a serious error,” Mr Williams said.

“It is in my opinion undoubtedly the case that an inquiry by Beko would have generated a follow-up call and more details would have been made available. Despite the knowledge of the telephone call on December 1 that Mr Landry’s death was now not the only fatality, Beko failed to bring this to the attention of [inspection firm] Intertek or Trading Standards.

“This also was a serious failing because it meant those two organisations were making decisions based on incomplete information.”

Mr Williams said Beko was told of the extent of the problems with the cookers in Ireland and knew it sold similar models in the UK.

“I was not given an explanation as to why Beko did not, as soon as those results were known, bring them to the attention of Intertek and trading standards,” Mr Williams said.

“In my judgment they had a duty to do so and the failure to do so was a serious one, meaning the two organisations who should have been closely involved were kept in the dark. I find as a fact that was a serious failing on the part of Beko. I do accept that Beko began to consider modifying its existing stock of cookers in the way anticipated in Ireland.”