Whirlpool today finally agreed to recall thousands of tumble dryers from British homes after they were linked to hundreds of fires.
There are as many as 800,000 appliances across the UK that will need replacing, MailOnline understands, landing the US company with a multi-million pound bill.
Under the recall, consumers with an unmodified, affected tumble dryer will be entitled to a new replacement machine. This will be delivered and installed, with the old one removed, all at no cost.
Whirlpool is finally recalling thousands of tumble driers after they were linked to hundreds of fires. Pictured is Jenny Spur’s Whirlpool tumble drier, after it caught fire at her home in Hampshire – forcing her to flee with her young children
The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) said Whirlpool had also agreed to deliver wide ranging publicity of the product recall aimed at reaching affected consumers and driving up awareness, guarantee no charges for delivery, installation or removal of machines and provide the OPSS with ‘timely’ reporting of progress.
According to current advice, owners of unmodified, affected tumble dryers should unplug and contact Whirlpool.
Consumer Affairs Minister Kelly Tolhurst said: ‘The UK has some of the toughest consumer protection laws in the world. Our intervention demonstrates that we will take all the necessary steps to keep consumers safe.
‘I want to reassure consumers that we are doing everything to ensure consumers with unmodified machines are made aware and have their tumble dryer replaced.
‘Consumers with an unmodified machine should contact Whirlpool to arrange a free replacement.’
The announcement follows Whirlpool admitting to MPs last week that the number of faulty tumble-dryers in homes across the country could be far higher than first thought.
The announcement follows the OPSS informing Whirlpool on June 4 of its intention to serve a recall notice. Pictured is the firm’s headquarters in Michigan, USA
Executives from the company told the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee that the true number could be 800,000 and it was working hard to modify those affected.
Whirlpool also revealed that in recent years, it had logged 54 fires in its tumble dryers and admitted that three of those were models that had already been updated.
MPs were taking evidence over the scandal that has seen 1.7 million products modified.
One witness Jemma Spurr, a victim whose modified dryer caught fire, told politicians she was asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement about the incident, which MPs said was used for ‘shutting people up’.
Whirlpool had agreed to pay her more than £11,000 only after she signed a document agreeing not to discuss the fire with anyone, including broadcasters and social media.
‘It felt 100 per cent they were trying to keep us quiet, it’s disgusting,’ said Miss Spurr. ‘How can you not speak about something like that after what you’ve been through?’
Miss Spurr said: ‘If the blaze had been going five minutes longer it would have been a different story’. Pictured above is where the fire took place
Despite her misgivings, she said she felt she had to sign the non-disclosure agreement because she could not afford to lose the settlement.
Miss Spurr’s dryer was modified two years before her fire broke out.
But in September 2018, just after returning from the school run, she noticed a burning smell in the house while the machine was on in the garage attached to her kitchen.
She was given an apology by Whirlpool’s communications chief Jeff Noel. He said: ‘I apologise to you for whatever distress this situation has caused to you, to your family, to your loved ones and your neighbours.’
The Government previously threatened to force Whirlpool to recall their machines in an ‘unprecedented intervention’.
Rebecca Robinson from Devon, also spoke out against a gagging order after her tumble dryer caught fire a year after the products had been deemed as safe.
Smoke billowed out and an electrical burning smell filled Mrs Robinsons’ utility room during the blaze in October
Smoke billowed out and an electrical burning smell filled her utility room during the blaze in October.
Mrs Robinson, 32, a school communications manager, said the Hotpoint engineer who later came told her: ‘It shouldn’t happen like that on a modified one.’
But when he phoned his head office from her home to report it the firm kept trying to pass the blame on to Mrs Robinson, implying that she had not kept the dryer clean.
They also warned her she might lose her dryer if she didn’t agree to have a ‘fix on the fix’ rather than replacement machine – which would also mean the engineer would not have to write an official incident report on the fire. But she refused, preferring to risk having no dryer than one that might burn her house down.
The Hotpoint engineer’s report, dated October 30 2018, described the cause as ‘lint build-ups on the heater element and burn signs on the rear panel’ – the exact thing that Whirpool’s modification was designed to stop.