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Electrical products that are faulty can be some of the most dangerous, with the potential to cause electric shocks, explosions and fires. When fitting electrical supply products, such as fuse boxes and sockets, housing suppliers have a duty of care to ensure that people who will eventually inhabit the homes are safe. In February 2009, a case came to light in Scotland where, if it had not been discovered quickly, the prospect of a product liability claim would have sadly been very probable.
The local council had ordered an amount of electrical sockets to be fitted in over 400 local authority homes, but the supplier delivered a low-end product, of a newer specification, without informing the council.
Workmen fitted the sockets, but the manufacturer later discovered a fault that could cause overheating if plugs were not pushed fully into the sockets.
The council warned its tenants of the problem and quickly removed and replaced the majority of the faulty products. However, the tenants of some homes were not able or willing to give access to council workers and so the dangerous products were in some of the homes for longer than the council would have wished
Tests revealed that of the 1,400 sockets removed, 20 had the potentially lethal fault.
A spokesperson for the council said, "We presumably ordered 'x' number of a certain type of socket and there does not seem to be a catch in the system to stop the supplier slipping us a different product.
"They should have told us they were supplying an alternative product. We are fortunate that no one was injured."
The council's chief housing officer confirmed that the supplier would have been required to supply products that met British Kitemark and safety criteria, but the housing department would not have stipulated a product serial number. The socket supplied did meet the standard, but was a different model.
The manufacturer did not admit liability for the products, but agreed an un-disclosed compensation payout that covered costs of replacing the faulty products.
Making a product liability claim with the experts
A supplier has a duty of care to make sure you, the consumer, is protected when selling or installing products. If you have suffered personal injury as a result of a faulty product you could be eligible to make a product liability compensation claim.
The product liability solicitors at YouClaim are specialists in their field and highly successful at winning compensation claims. As they work on a no win, no fee basis, you are protected from all legal fees and costs whether the case is won or lost. What's more, the YouClaim solicitors always make sure you receive 100 percent compensation in a won case.
Call our free UK helpline on 0800 10 757 95 or have an e-chat. If it's not convenient right now we can call you back, or you could give us a few details about your product liability claim by filling in our online claim form and we will call you to discuss it further. However you contact YouClaim you can be assured we will give you the best service available.
