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At this time of year, furniture retailers are doing big business. | :00:00. | :00:09. | |
They're selling us sofas at massive discounts and mattresses at | :00:10. | :00:13. | |
bargain-basement prices. There's one place with a double discount sale, | :00:14. | :00:20. | |
SCS. A Harveys sale ad... Homebase, make a house a home. Finding the | :00:21. | :00:25. | |
perfect gift has never been easier, we believe there's a better what I | :00:26. | :00:29. | |
to shop online. But Fake Britain can reveal that SCS, Harveys, Argos, | :00:30. | :00:35. | |
Homebase, Tesco direct and Amazon have been selling illegal, unsafe | :00:36. | :00:42. | |
and potentially lethal furniture. This noncompliant furniture risks | :00:43. | :00:46. | |
the lives of people in their homes. It's very, very dangerous indeed. | :00:47. | :00:50. | |
Alarmingly, there are sofas and mattresses on sale throughout the | :00:51. | :00:54. | |
country that could cause an inferno in your home in fewer than ten | :00:55. | :00:58. | |
minutes. There are products out there which really are a death trap. | :00:59. | :01:04. | |
Clearly, that has to be a worry. Many of the dangerous mattresses | :01:05. | :01:09. | |
carry false fire resistant labels. This label confirms with the British | :01:10. | :01:15. | |
standard. This label is fake. So why haven't any of Britain's biggest | :01:16. | :01:17. | |
furniture retailers noticed? Our investigation began when we met | :01:18. | :01:31. | |
Maria Houston, who purchased two dream sofas from an independent | :01:32. | :01:37. | |
retailer in Bradford. These two couches were absolutely stunning. I | :01:38. | :01:41. | |
just couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the price as well. But when the | :01:42. | :01:46. | |
sofas arrived, Maria was unhappy with the quality and the service | :01:47. | :01:50. | |
she'd received. So she contacted Trading Standards. Officers in West | :01:51. | :01:54. | |
Yorkshire began examining the type of sofa she had bought. They had no | :01:55. | :01:58. | |
idea just what they were about to find out. We decided that we had | :01:59. | :02:03. | |
real concerns about the safety, so we visited the premises and seized a | :02:04. | :02:08. | |
sofa. We submitted it to our testing surface here who carried out the | :02:09. | :02:13. | |
testing on the furniture. To see if sofa foam complies with the UK fire | :02:14. | :02:17. | |
safety regulations, the law says it must be tested like this, a small | :02:18. | :02:23. | |
wooden crib is ignited and if the sofa is safe, it shouldn't catch | :02:24. | :02:25. | |
fire. When Trading Standards tested the | :02:26. | :02:40. | |
sofa they'd seized, they made a shocking discovery. It failed the | :02:41. | :02:44. | |
test. Not a little bit, but very badly. What you can see is that | :02:45. | :02:50. | |
having lit the crib, it's already flaming away. What should happen is | :02:51. | :02:54. | |
that the crib should go out. This is untreated foam, so it's away. After | :02:55. | :03:03. | |
just two minutes, the fire has escalated dramatically. That would | :03:04. | :03:06. | |
be out of control in a house. We have no idea just how many unsafe | :03:07. | :03:10. | |
sofas like these are in West Yorkshire and beyond right now | :03:11. | :03:15. | |
putting consumers' lives at risk. They have what the test house | :03:16. | :03:19. | |
described as accelerating ignition, which to you or me is a fire ball, | :03:20. | :03:23. | |
had it been in a house, near some curtains, it would have been a | :03:24. | :03:27. | |
massive ignition source and would have burned the house down. Maria's | :03:28. | :03:31. | |
sofas have never been tested. She's worried they may be unsafe. We | :03:32. | :03:37. | |
showed her the test footage. That's unbelievable. God. If my grand kids | :03:38. | :03:44. | |
were here and we had a fire, you'd think the worst, wouldn't you? I'm | :03:45. | :03:50. | |
gutted. The consequences could be real danger for anybody, not just me | :03:51. | :03:55. | |
and my grand kids or my niece and nephews, anybody. The independent | :03:56. | :03:59. | |
retailer she bought them from had five shops in Yorkshire. They were | :04:00. | :04:04. | |
successfully prosecuted and fined. Both Maria's sofas and both | :04:05. | :04:09. | |
purchased by Trading Standards carried fire resistance labels | :04:10. | :04:13. | |
claiming they met UK regulations. Fake Britain tried to contact | :04:14. | :04:20. | |
I-Sleep Ltd for their comments. The stores remain closed and since | :04:21. | :04:24. | |
January 8, the company is no longer in business. Could what happened in | :04:25. | :04:31. | |
Yorkshire be happening elsewhere? Fake Britain has decided to find | :04:32. | :04:37. | |
out. We joined Trading Standards in Leicester as they went to buy ten | :04:38. | :04:42. | |
sofas at random from a wide selection of the best known High | :04:43. | :04:44. | |
Street retailers and independent stores. They wanted to purchase a | :04:45. | :04:48. | |
range of sofas for fire safety testing. Their plan was to discover | :04:49. | :04:52. | |
whether or not they were safe. First on the list is Harveys. This is one | :04:53. | :04:58. | |
of the UK's largest furniture retailers, with 150 stores | :04:59. | :05:03. | |
nationwide. A Trading Standards officer buys a sofa available for | :05:04. | :05:06. | |
collection straight away and it's taken away to their storage unit, | :05:07. | :05:10. | |
before being sented for testing -- sent for testing. Next is SCS, or | :05:11. | :05:16. | |
sofa carpet specialist, who have nearly 100 stores nationwide. | :05:17. | :05:20. | |
Trading Standards pick a sofa, buy it and take it away. We wanted to | :05:21. | :05:26. | |
check a range of different sized retailers. They will be tested under | :05:27. | :05:29. | |
the correct standards to make sure that they are compliant with the | :05:30. | :05:34. | |
safety regulations in regards to fire ignition tests. It should be | :05:35. | :05:38. | |
inconceivable that any of these sofas could fail the legal tests, | :05:39. | :05:43. | |
because in the 70s and 80s, after a series of deadly fires, new laws | :05:44. | :05:51. | |
were passed to help protect us from dangerous furniture. In May 1979, a | :05:52. | :05:57. | |
fire broke out at wool worths in the centre of Manchester. Fire crew as | :05:58. | :06:02. | |
rived to find smoke -- -- crews arrived to find smoke billowing from | :06:03. | :06:08. | |
the six-storey building. Bob Graham was one of the senior fire officers | :06:09. | :06:13. | |
who responded on the day. What first struck me on arrival was the | :06:14. | :06:17. | |
intensity of the fire and the amount of smoke that was coming out of the | :06:18. | :06:25. | |
building. It was tremendous. There were approximately 500 people in the | :06:26. | :06:28. | |
building at the time the fire started. So you can imagine the | :06:29. | :06:34. | |
confusion. The situation turned to horror, as people were trapped | :06:35. | :06:38. | |
behind bars in an office at the rear of the building. They were trapped. | :06:39. | :06:42. | |
The fire was spreading across the floor. They couldn't open the door | :06:43. | :06:46. | |
onto the remainder of the fire floor because they would have been killed | :06:47. | :06:50. | |
instantly, with the heat that was in there. | :06:51. | :06:53. | |
The urgent thing there was to get the bars off the window and get the | :06:54. | :06:58. | |
people out. The crews did that very efficiently. The firemen went inside | :06:59. | :07:01. | |
to reassure the people that they were going to be safe and gradually, | :07:02. | :07:05. | |
they were brought down to the ground. Elsewhere in the building, | :07:06. | :07:12. | |
ten people lost their lives and 47 were injured. The Coroner at the | :07:13. | :07:18. | |
inquest said anyone who was on the second floor, three minutes after | :07:19. | :07:22. | |
the fire started, was unlikely to escape. That's how fast the fire | :07:23. | :07:29. | |
grew. Bob Graham, a key investigator, soon discovered that | :07:30. | :07:32. | |
furniture was at the heart of the disaster. He became a leading figure | :07:33. | :07:37. | |
in the campaign for tougher fire safety regulations and was awarded | :07:38. | :07:42. | |
an MBE for his work. We reconstructed what was in wool | :07:43. | :07:47. | |
worths -- Woolworth's, set fire to it and monitored the effects. That | :07:48. | :07:51. | |
showed us that the furniture was the main contributor to this fire. The | :07:52. | :07:55. | |
Woolworth's fire took ten lives. There were another 700 at that time | :07:56. | :08:02. | |
dieing in their own homes throughout the UK. Campaigners persuaded the | :08:03. | :08:07. | |
Government to change the law and now manufacturers are obliged to make | :08:08. | :08:11. | |
furniture using fire resistant foam and materials in order to protect | :08:12. | :08:16. | |
the consumer. Chief Fire Officer, Paul Fuller, from Bedfordshire Fire | :08:17. | :08:21. | |
Rescue Service is president of the Chief Fire Officers Association and | :08:22. | :08:26. | |
an expert in fire prevention. In 35 years in the Fire Service, I've seen | :08:27. | :08:30. | |
the devastation caused by fires of all sorts and it is never a good | :08:31. | :08:35. | |
thing. It is worsened, if the materials that are inside rooms burn | :08:36. | :08:43. | |
more readily, such as noncompliant furniture. Paul knows just how | :08:44. | :08:47. | |
dangerous a fire involving this furniture can be. The catastrophic | :08:48. | :08:52. | |
effects are demonstrated by this living room fire test, carried out | :08:53. | :08:55. | |
before the regulations came into force. | :08:56. | :08:59. | |
Very, very quickly, the room in which that furniture is involved | :09:00. | :09:04. | |
will become completely uninhabitable. You can't breathe. | :09:05. | :09:08. | |
You can't see. It's too hot. You can't find your way around. And | :09:09. | :09:12. | |
you're choking to death. Noncompliant furniture risks the | :09:13. | :09:16. | |
lives of people in their homes. It's very, very dangerous indeed. The ten | :09:17. | :09:26. | |
sofas purchased by Leicestershire Trading Standards have arrived at | :09:27. | :09:29. | |
the West Yorkshire materials testing lab, which is fully accredited to | :09:30. | :09:33. | |
carry out the legal tests. Samples of the foam fillings and cover | :09:34. | :09:36. | |
fabrics from the sofas, including those from SCS and Harveys, are | :09:37. | :09:42. | |
being prepared for testing. Each separate cover fabric has to pass | :09:43. | :09:48. | |
what's called a match test. We apply a butane flame, at a specified gas | :09:49. | :09:54. | |
flow rate for 20 seconds. Then it's removed. Within two minutes of its | :09:55. | :09:58. | |
removal, flaming has to cease and there is to be no progressive | :09:59. | :10:02. | |
smouldering. All the cover fabrics from the same SCS sofa are being | :10:03. | :10:07. | |
tested. They must all pass the flapability tests for -- flammility | :10:08. | :10:13. | |
tests for the sofa. This is the trim. The first application of the | :10:14. | :10:17. | |
fame doesn't ignite the fabric. This may be because there is some fire | :10:18. | :10:21. | |
retardant treatment. The regulations require a second attempt. And this | :10:22. | :10:28. | |
time, it ignites. After one minute and 40 seconds, it's reached an | :10:29. | :10:35. | |
unsafe level and has to be skinning wished. The second fabric, another | :10:36. | :10:39. | |
trim from the arms of the SCS sofa, passes the 20-second match test. | :10:40. | :10:45. | |
This is still not good news for SCS. Even if all the other components | :10:46. | :10:55. | |
pass, there is a failure, because all parts must meet requirements. | :10:56. | :10:59. | |
The main cover fabric is the final element to be tested. It ignites | :11:00. | :11:11. | |
easily. The fire takes hold. Then at one minute and 40 seconds, it has to | :11:12. | :11:18. | |
be extinguished. This sofa is illegal. You've just seen a sofa | :11:19. | :11:23. | |
from a leading retailer fail. We showed the footage to fire expert | :11:24. | :11:29. | |
Paul Fuller. The rapidity with which that furniture has caught fire is | :11:30. | :11:34. | |
staggering. If you can imagine that over four or five minutes it's | :11:35. | :11:40. | |
shocking. Two out of the three fabrics have failed. This means the | :11:41. | :11:46. | |
sofa, from High Street retailer SCS, is illegal and dangerous. SCS told | :11:47. | :11:53. | |
us the issue here was a failing by the company who apply the fire | :11:54. | :11:56. | |
retardant material to the product. And this is something that must be | :11:57. | :12:01. | |
addressed. The model Trading Standards tested was part of a small | :12:02. | :12:07. | |
batch of 41. Should further testing of the batch in question give us any | :12:08. | :12:10. | |
concerns we will recall that batch of products and will be contacting | :12:11. | :12:15. | |
customers directly. They also said: Regular, independent testing is | :12:16. | :12:18. | |
undertaken and all of the certificates we have for that model | :12:19. | :12:22. | |
demonstrate that it meets the required standards. We ensure that | :12:23. | :12:26. | |
we obtain independent fire certificates for all of our | :12:27. | :12:32. | |
upholstery products. We will be implementing our own independent | :12:33. | :12:36. | |
testing routines. Next, the sofa from Harveys. The | :12:37. | :12:43. | |
faux leather trim fabric has passed the test. The main cream coloured | :12:44. | :12:48. | |
fabric is the second and final test. The 20-second flame is applied. The | :12:49. | :12:55. | |
fabric ignites and the fire quickly escalates. Already the build up of | :12:56. | :12:59. | |
gases you can see in that room are going to make it very, very | :13:00. | :13:03. | |
difficult environment indeed. That's new furniture. It's brand new and | :13:04. | :13:12. | |
doesn't comply. With those vital life-saving regulations. | :13:13. | :13:14. | |
Astonishingly another sofa has failed. Harveys had this to say: | :13:15. | :13:20. | |
"Harveys takes the safety of its products very seriously and have | :13:21. | :13:24. | |
procedures in place to ensure its products meet all relevant safety | :13:25. | :13:28. | |
standards. This matter is being investigated and we are unable to | :13:29. | :13:34. | |
comment any further until we've concluded this. | :13:35. | :13:38. | |
Fake Britain can reveal of the ten sofas purchased at random in | :13:39. | :13:42. | |
Leicestershire, eight had failed and do not meet the required UK | :13:43. | :13:54. | |
flammablity standards. So, alarmingly, ape number of leading | :13:55. | :13:58. | |
retailers -- a number of leading retailers are selling sofas that | :13:59. | :14:01. | |
don't comply with you're fire safety regulations. But it doesn't end | :14:02. | :14:07. | |
there. It's not just sofas. Fake Britain has discovered | :14:08. | :14:12. | |
dangerous, noncompliant memory foam mattresses which carry fake fire | :14:13. | :14:16. | |
resistance labels and they're being sold in our high streets and online. | :14:17. | :14:23. | |
Here in Lancashire, bed ministerer Silent Night have their own in-house | :14:24. | :14:28. | |
test lab and carry out regular fire testing of all products they sell. | :14:29. | :14:32. | |
They're going to demonstrate the importance of a safe mattress. There | :14:33. | :14:36. | |
are products out there which really are a death trap in the consumer's | :14:37. | :14:40. | |
home and clearly that has to be a concern, has to be a worry. That | :14:41. | :14:44. | |
kind of product, we've got to stamp out of this market. Today we've | :14:45. | :14:48. | |
joined them at Lancashire Fire Rescue Service to see how a safe and | :14:49. | :14:52. | |
legal mattress should behave in the event of a fire, using one of their | :14:53. | :14:56. | |
products as a demonstration. To simulate what would happen in the | :14:57. | :14:59. | |
event of a house fire, the test has been set up like a real bedroom. We | :15:00. | :15:05. | |
are going to use a wooden crib as the ignition source, which we will | :15:06. | :15:09. | |
place on the centre of the mattress and set fire to it. | :15:10. | :15:15. | |
The ignited crib burns steadily. Despite falling over, the foam | :15:16. | :15:18. | |
filling of the mattress is not catching fire. And after two minutes | :15:19. | :15:24. | |
and 43 seconds, the fire dies out. The wooden crib took two to three | :15:25. | :15:30. | |
minutes to burn out, that's a compliant mattress. They then | :15:31. | :15:34. | |
produced a second mattress from a xeter that they -- competitor that | :15:35. | :15:41. | |
they suspect to be illegal. If the mattress fails the test, it's an | :15:42. | :15:45. | |
illegal product on sale in the UK. But the label states that it is | :15:46. | :15:50. | |
legal. The crib on the safe mattress burned | :15:51. | :15:54. | |
out at two minutes and 43 seconds. But after the same period of time, | :15:55. | :15:59. | |
fire has taken hold of the suspect mattress. | :16:00. | :16:04. | |
After nearly six minutes, the mattress fire has filled the room | :16:05. | :16:10. | |
with toxic smoke. More than half of all house fire fatalities are caused | :16:11. | :16:16. | |
by smoke inhalation. Less than a minute later, the room has been | :16:17. | :16:24. | |
engulfed by flames. The window explodes. The carpet, the curtains | :16:25. | :16:29. | |
and the bed have been destroyed. The fire has reached approximately 1,000 | :16:30. | :16:37. | |
degrees. At nearly 11 minutes, it's an inferno. The small camera that | :16:38. | :16:44. | |
we've been using to record a closer shot is too close to the fire. A | :16:45. | :16:47. | |
fire officer recommends rescuing it from the heat of the blaze. And then | :16:48. | :16:52. | |
a Fire Rescue Service officer steps in to distinguish the fire | :16:53. | :16:56. | |
ball, as it's simply too dangerous to continue. | :16:57. | :17:12. | |
Clearly in that situation, if there had been people in that property, | :17:13. | :17:19. | |
then very clearly there would have been strong risk of fatalities. It | :17:20. | :17:23. | |
would be so hot and so full of smoke and gas that it would be | :17:24. | :17:26. | |
unsurvivable. In only about six minutes, it would be a terrifying | :17:27. | :17:32. | |
place to be trapp in those probably last few minutes of survival. | :17:33. | :17:36. | |
Shocking stuff. And it's unbelievable to think that despite | :17:37. | :17:40. | |
the tough regulations that we have here in the UK, this was a product | :17:41. | :17:47. | |
widely available for sale. To investigate further, Fake Britain | :17:48. | :17:53. | |
went shopping. We decided to conduct our own tests by buying a series of | :17:54. | :17:58. | |
rolled memory foam mattresses by Ventura, sold under the brand name | :17:59. | :18:03. | |
Sleep Secrets from sleeping online and High Street retailers. We bought | :18:04. | :18:08. | |
samples of the sleep secrets, cool gel and Napoli memory foam | :18:09. | :18:12. | |
mattresses from Argos, Homebase, itesquo direct and Amazon -- Tesco | :18:13. | :18:18. | |
direct and Amazon website. Prices ranged from ?140 to ?300. We took | :18:19. | :18:24. | |
our mattresses to the Fira, the test lab in Hertfordshire. It's one of | :18:25. | :18:28. | |
the UK's leading testing centres. They're able to test whether the | :18:29. | :18:31. | |
mattresses are up to standard. Today, one of their experts is about | :18:32. | :18:36. | |
to discover whether some of Britain's leading retailers have | :18:37. | :18:45. | |
been selling illegal mattresses. The Sleep secrets comfort cool gel | :18:46. | :18:51. | |
memory foam mattress from the Argos website is ignited. The foam ignites | :18:52. | :18:58. | |
and burns steadily. Very quickly it represents a serious risk. After two | :18:59. | :19:05. | |
minutes and 39 seconds, Steve switches on the fire distinguisher. | :19:06. | :19:12. | |
-- extinguisher. The mattress has failed. This means Argos has sold an | :19:13. | :19:19. | |
illegal product in the UK which is potentially lethal. Because the foam | :19:20. | :19:22. | |
has failed, it's not legal to be sold as any part of furniture, | :19:23. | :19:26. | |
whether it's a chair or a mattress. The foam is actually illegal for | :19:27. | :19:31. | |
furniture use in the UK. Next it's the Sleep Secrets cool gel memory | :19:32. | :19:36. | |
foam single mattress from Homebase. The crib test is ready to go. The | :19:37. | :19:46. | |
mattress foam Iing noits. -- ignites. It's not long until it's | :19:47. | :19:49. | |
reached the limit and the blaze is put outment -- out. This mattress | :19:50. | :19:55. | |
has also failed the test. As a result, Homebase has sold an ellegal | :19:56. | :20:02. | |
product. -- illegal product. If it was to catch fire, due to the rate | :20:03. | :20:05. | |
the flames would develop and spread and the amount of smoke, it would | :20:06. | :20:08. | |
make it very difficult for anybody to escape. Home Retail Group, who | :20:09. | :20:12. | |
own Argos and Homebase, had this to say about the results of our tests: | :20:13. | :20:19. | |
"At Argos and Homebase our priority is our customers. We are very sorry | :20:20. | :20:23. | |
for any concern this issue may cause. Along with other retailers, | :20:24. | :20:28. | |
we've initiated an immediate product recall of the affected batches by | :20:29. | :20:33. | |
Ventura, who will be writing to all affected customers to arrange | :20:34. | :20:36. | |
collection of their mattress and we will offer a full refund or | :20:37. | :20:41. | |
compliant replacement. We've also removed all affected mattresses from | :20:42. | :20:45. | |
sale with immediate effect. We operate strict terms and conditions | :20:46. | :20:49. | |
with suppliers, which state that all goods supplied to us must be legal | :20:50. | :20:54. | |
and conform to the relevant legislation. We are deeply | :20:55. | :20:57. | |
disappointed and concerned about this clear failure by Ventura and | :20:58. | :21:03. | |
are taking urgent action at the highest levels." | :21:04. | :21:09. | |
Next to be tested is a Sleep Secrets 15 cms Celsius cool gel memory foam | :21:10. | :21:14. | |
mattress that we bought from Tesco direct. The crib is ignited again. | :21:15. | :21:20. | |
And yet again, our test shows strieghtening quick ack -- | :21:21. | :21:29. | |
frighteningly quick acceleration of the fire. The mattress has failed. | :21:30. | :21:34. | |
Tesco direct has sold an illegal product. They told us: "We have very | :21:35. | :21:39. | |
high standards for the items we sell and are urgently investigating with | :21:40. | :21:43. | |
the brand supplier. We have only sold one of these items and have | :21:44. | :21:47. | |
suspended the product from sale. We will be taking action with the | :21:48. | :21:51. | |
supplier once our investigations are completed. " | :21:52. | :21:59. | |
Next up, it's a Sleep Secrets 18 cms Napoli mattress purchased from | :22:00. | :22:03. | |
Amazon. This is the fourth and final mattress that we have tested. This | :22:04. | :22:14. | |
mattress also fails. Shockingly, Argos, Homebase, Tesco direct and | :22:15. | :22:20. | |
Amazon have all sold an illegal product throughout the whole of the | :22:21. | :22:26. | |
UK. Amazon told Fake Britain: "At Amazon we're committed to providing | :22:27. | :22:29. | |
customers with the best possible shopping experience and have an | :22:30. | :22:33. | |
established process in place which enables third parties, including | :22:34. | :22:38. | |
rights holders, to provide us with notice of infringements or | :22:39. | :22:42. | |
noncompliant product. We respond rapidly to any such notice, | :22:43. | :22:46. | |
including removal of any such items." All four Sleep Secrets | :22:47. | :22:52. | |
memory foam mattresses have failed the UK legal tests. We sent our test | :22:53. | :22:57. | |
results to the UK supplier, Ventura Corporation and they told us: | :22:58. | :23:02. | |
"Ventura Corporation is a responsible and ethical business and | :23:03. | :23:06. | |
has been trading for nearly 30 years. We have an unblemished record | :23:07. | :23:11. | |
of trading with many of the largest retailers in the UK. We have been | :23:12. | :23:15. | |
made aware by the programme makers that there is an issue with a | :23:16. | :23:20. | |
limited number of Sleep Secrets branded mattresses which originate | :23:21. | :23:23. | |
from a single, previously reliable supplier. We are conducted a | :23:24. | :23:27. | |
vigorous investigation. We will conduct further testing and will be | :23:28. | :23:31. | |
in contact with all customers who we can ascertain are in possession of | :23:32. | :23:35. | |
any mattresses which may be affected. We will seek to offer | :23:36. | :23:39. | |
affected customers a satisfactory resolution. " | :23:40. | :23:44. | |
It's clear, the bed industry could be facing a big problem. We spoke to | :23:45. | :23:49. | |
Jessica Alexander from the national bed federation to find out more. In | :23:50. | :23:55. | |
the last few years, because of the recession, we've seen more | :23:56. | :23:58. | |
manufacturers perhaps try and cut corners in order to reduce their | :23:59. | :24:03. | |
prices. Therefore we do feel that it has become more of an issue for | :24:04. | :24:08. | |
consumers to be taken in by products which aren't quite what they say | :24:09. | :24:13. | |
they are. All of the Sleep Secrets mattresses we bought are made in | :24:14. | :24:18. | |
China. We all carried fire resistance labels. To check out the | :24:19. | :24:21. | |
authenticity of the label, we took them to the British standards | :24:22. | :24:29. | |
institute. This label conforms with the British standard. This label is | :24:30. | :24:34. | |
fake. Anybody who knows anything about the labels should have noticed | :24:35. | :24:38. | |
there was a problem. We look at these two labels, if we measure this | :24:39. | :24:43. | |
one, it should be at least 50 millimetres by 50 millimetres. A | :24:44. | :24:46. | |
white background with a blue border around it and it should have the | :24:47. | :24:52. | |
word "resistant" across the blue boreder in white lettering, which | :24:53. | :24:56. | |
should be at least five millimetres in size. Any writings and die grams | :24:57. | :24:59. | |
on the label should appear in the white box and should all be black. | :25:00. | :25:04. | |
This one is considerably smaller. It's less than 50 millimetres by 50 | :25:05. | :25:11. | |
millimetres. The blue pictures are wrong. The size is wrong. And the | :25:12. | :25:16. | |
use of this number is wrong. Yet, it seems that no-one at Argos, | :25:17. | :25:22. | |
Homebase, Tesco Direct or Amazon noticed. The label could deceive | :25:23. | :25:28. | |
British consumers into buying an unsafe mattress. Why hasn't the | :25:29. | :25:32. | |
retailer or the supplier noticed that these labels are fake? After | :25:33. | :25:37. | |
all, the retailer has a legal responsibility to make sure that | :25:38. | :25:41. | |
everything they sell complies with the law. We asked the retailers and | :25:42. | :25:47. | |
suppliers to comment. Tesco told us, "We're sorry that the product was | :25:48. | :25:50. | |
incorrectly labelled and did not meet the requirements of the | :25:51. | :25:55. | |
regulations." Home Retail Group for oar gas and Homebase told us, "On | :25:56. | :25:59. | |
learning of these claims, Argos and Homebase immediately launched an | :26:00. | :26:03. | |
urgent, top-level investigation with Ventura, in which independent tests | :26:04. | :26:09. | |
confirmed that the Sleep Secrets mattresses did not confirm to BS | :26:10. | :26:15. | |
7177. The tests revealed that the mattress labels were genuine having | :26:16. | :26:21. | |
been applied by the supplier during manufacturing. But the label | :26:22. | :26:24. | |
information did not comply with the mattresses sold. Amazon did not | :26:25. | :26:28. | |
respond on this point. Ventura corporation, the supplier, | :26:29. | :26:32. | |
told us: "We're investigating an issue concerning the accuracy of | :26:33. | :26:35. | |
information shown on the mattress labels. We have never been advised | :26:36. | :26:40. | |
by any independent testers that the labels are incorrect, but we're now | :26:41. | :26:45. | |
working, according to the flammablity standard with | :26:46. | :26:49. | |
independent test laboratories to ensure the future accuracy of | :26:50. | :26:55. | |
labelling. The labels are not fake. It's the manufacturer who is | :26:56. | :26:58. | |
responsible for testing the products, but the retailer is | :26:59. | :27:01. | |
obliged to check that furniture that they sell is safe. The question | :27:02. | :27:06. | |
should be asked of that retailer, are they being diligent enough in | :27:07. | :27:10. | |
terms of vetting their supplier base to ensure they are conforming | :27:11. | :27:14. | |
totally with the legal requirements of products they sell to the | :27:15. | :27:18. | |
consumer. At the end of the day, the buck would stop with that retailer. | :27:19. | :27:23. | |
The fact that SCS, Harveys, Argos, Homebase, Tesco Direct and Amazon | :27:24. | :27:29. | |
have been selling illegal furniture in the UK shocks a leading | :27:30. | :27:32. | |
campaigner in fire safety, who thought this problem had been solved | :27:33. | :27:38. | |
over 25 years ago. To find that people are selling hazardous | :27:39. | :27:43. | |
furniture to the general public, particularly when they have a | :27:44. | :27:48. | |
reputation, I mean, that's reprehensible. No-one knows just how | :27:49. | :27:53. | |
many dangerous sofas and mattresses there are on sale and in UK homes | :27:54. | :27:57. | |
right now. The whole purpose of the regulations | :27:58. | :28:03. | |
were to drive down the risk of fires killing people in their homes. To go | :28:04. | :28:08. | |
back to that, would be completely heinous. We have to do everything we | :28:09. | :28:12. | |
can to ensure that we don't. You have concerns about products shown | :28:13. | :28:16. | |
in this programme, contact your retailer. Homebase and Argos have | :28:17. | :28:18. | |
told us you can call: contact your local Trading Standards | :28:19. | :28:35. | |
as well. | :28:36. | :28:42. |