Browse content similar to Episode 10. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Welcome to a world where nothing is quite as it seems. | 0:00:02 | 0:00:06 | |
Welcome to Fake Britain. | 0:00:06 | 0:00:08 | |
Get down! Get down! | 0:00:20 | 0:00:22 | |
-Get on the floor now! -Put your hands behind your back now! | 0:00:22 | 0:00:25 | |
It's just an ordinary house, it could be anywhere in the country, | 0:00:25 | 0:00:29 | |
but this is the Fake Britain house and it's filled with fakes. | 0:00:29 | 0:00:34 | |
You may not know it, but your home could be too. | 0:00:34 | 0:00:37 | |
In this series, we'll be investigating | 0:00:37 | 0:00:39 | |
the criminals trying to get their hands on your cash by using fraud, | 0:00:39 | 0:00:44 | |
forgeries and fakery, | 0:00:44 | 0:00:47 | |
and I'll be showing you how you can avoid being taken for a ride. | 0:00:47 | 0:00:51 | |
Today on Fake Britain, | 0:00:52 | 0:00:54 | |
the fake fundraising web pages | 0:00:54 | 0:00:56 | |
stealing money from those who need it most... | 0:00:56 | 0:01:00 | |
I would want them to come and meet Elliot | 0:01:00 | 0:01:02 | |
and see what opportunities they were taking away from him. | 0:01:02 | 0:01:05 | |
..the fake horse passports putting young riders in danger... | 0:01:05 | 0:01:09 | |
Dottie managed to buck the purchaser's grandchildren off | 0:01:09 | 0:01:13 | |
and bolted in traffic. | 0:01:13 | 0:01:14 | |
..and how a Fake Britain investigation led to | 0:01:14 | 0:01:18 | |
a national recall of mattresses that were illegal and dangerous. | 0:01:18 | 0:01:23 | |
This noncompliant furniture risks the lives of people in their homes. | 0:01:23 | 0:01:28 | |
It's very, very dangerous indeed. | 0:01:28 | 0:01:29 | |
We Brits are amongst the most generous nations | 0:01:35 | 0:01:38 | |
when it comes to giving. | 0:01:38 | 0:01:40 | |
A recent survey showed that more than three quarters of us | 0:01:40 | 0:01:44 | |
made a donation to a good cause in a typical month. | 0:01:44 | 0:01:48 | |
So, it's not surprising that people who really need to raise money | 0:01:48 | 0:01:52 | |
turn to the public for help, and one family did just that | 0:01:52 | 0:01:56 | |
to help fund life-changing medical help for their son. | 0:01:56 | 0:02:01 | |
But, they were outraged to discover that their online | 0:02:01 | 0:02:05 | |
money-raising efforts had been hijacked by the fakers. | 0:02:05 | 0:02:09 | |
Six-year-old Elliot Gower suffers from cerebral palsy | 0:02:12 | 0:02:15 | |
and can't walk unaided, | 0:02:15 | 0:02:17 | |
but, recently, his parents, James and Morwenna, have had news which | 0:02:17 | 0:02:21 | |
has given them hope that Elliot's condition could be transformed. | 0:02:21 | 0:02:25 | |
Elliot has been selected by Great Ormond Street | 0:02:26 | 0:02:28 | |
for a life-changing operation to remove the spasticity permanently | 0:02:28 | 0:02:33 | |
in his legs that should enable him to walk, independently is what we hope. | 0:02:33 | 0:02:37 | |
The procedure itself isn't funded, unfortunately, | 0:02:38 | 0:02:41 | |
by the NHS at the moment, | 0:02:41 | 0:02:42 | |
so we need to raise money to have that done, but one of the big aspects | 0:02:42 | 0:02:45 | |
of what we're raising money for is his post-operative physiotherapy. | 0:02:45 | 0:02:49 | |
He will need intensive physiotherapy for about two years after | 0:02:49 | 0:02:52 | |
the surgery in order to make it fully beneficial. | 0:02:52 | 0:02:55 | |
Can you help me go shooting, Dad? | 0:02:55 | 0:02:57 | |
For Elliot, the operation would be life-changing. | 0:02:57 | 0:03:00 | |
He watches other children play | 0:03:02 | 0:03:04 | |
and do all the things that normal children do | 0:03:04 | 0:03:08 | |
and I think he really wants to do that, | 0:03:08 | 0:03:11 | |
and we would do anything to give him that chance to do it. | 0:03:11 | 0:03:15 | |
The family needed to raise just over £60,000, | 0:03:17 | 0:03:21 | |
so they began to investigate what options were out there. | 0:03:21 | 0:03:25 | |
We asked some charities if they would help us, | 0:03:25 | 0:03:29 | |
but you can't be a charity for one person, | 0:03:29 | 0:03:33 | |
you have to be a charity for a group of people, | 0:03:33 | 0:03:35 | |
so Elliot didn't come into that category. | 0:03:35 | 0:03:38 | |
So, we went down different routes of fundraising, like crowdfunding, | 0:03:38 | 0:03:43 | |
which you can do through the internet and social media. | 0:03:43 | 0:03:46 | |
Crowdfunding is primarily used to raised money for business ventures, | 0:03:47 | 0:03:51 | |
but it's become increasing popular for those seeking funding | 0:03:51 | 0:03:54 | |
for good causes. | 0:03:54 | 0:03:56 | |
The success of crowdfunding lies in its simplicity. | 0:03:56 | 0:03:59 | |
If you want to launch a crowdfunded project, you pick your | 0:03:59 | 0:04:02 | |
crowdfunding service, design your page and launch your bid online. | 0:04:02 | 0:04:07 | |
If the public likes your business idea or charitable cause, | 0:04:07 | 0:04:10 | |
they fund you. | 0:04:10 | 0:04:11 | |
Successful projects are usually funded by small | 0:04:11 | 0:04:14 | |
contributions from many people. | 0:04:14 | 0:04:16 | |
There are now over 30 crowdfunding sites based in the UK alone | 0:04:16 | 0:04:20 | |
and they generate over a billion pounds for fundraisers | 0:04:20 | 0:04:24 | |
seeking money for new ventures, gadgets, and charitable causes. | 0:04:24 | 0:04:28 | |
'The Gowers set up their crowdfunding page, called | 0:04:29 | 0:04:32 | |
'Operation Elliot, in just 24 hours. | 0:04:32 | 0:04:35 | |
'They used a reputable crowdfunding website called Fundraise, | 0:04:35 | 0:04:39 | |
'and, shortly after launching their page, they'd raised £1,800. | 0:04:39 | 0:04:44 | |
'But, just a week after the launch, | 0:04:45 | 0:04:47 | |
'the Gowers received an unexpected phone call.' | 0:04:47 | 0:04:50 | |
And in the evening, we were sitting talking about how the day had gone | 0:04:50 | 0:04:54 | |
and some friends rang up and said did we have anybody fundraising | 0:04:54 | 0:04:57 | |
for us in America because they'd come across another site online. | 0:04:57 | 0:04:59 | |
So we checked it out and then we discovered that, actually, | 0:05:02 | 0:05:05 | |
there were four or five different sites using similar names | 0:05:05 | 0:05:08 | |
using the same pictures that we were using on our site, | 0:05:08 | 0:05:11 | |
information about Elliot...none of these were people that we knew. | 0:05:11 | 0:05:15 | |
And we kind of got into a bit of a blind panic on that evening. | 0:05:15 | 0:05:19 | |
The Gowers went online and were horrified to see | 0:05:20 | 0:05:23 | |
eight different crowdfunding sites, some American, some British, | 0:05:23 | 0:05:27 | |
appealing for money for Elliot's operation. | 0:05:27 | 0:05:30 | |
The fakers had carried out a screen scrape, | 0:05:30 | 0:05:33 | |
stealing Elliot's story and images from his own webpage | 0:05:33 | 0:05:37 | |
and using them for their own gain. | 0:05:37 | 0:05:39 | |
This is one of the copies. | 0:05:39 | 0:05:42 | |
You can see it's the same information | 0:05:42 | 0:05:44 | |
we used on the crowdfunding site. | 0:05:44 | 0:05:46 | |
They raised 495... | 0:05:46 | 0:05:48 | |
..money that hasn't come to Elliot. | 0:05:50 | 0:05:52 | |
I think it's the pictures that are the hardest thing actually, | 0:05:53 | 0:05:55 | |
reading some of the information they've got, they've copied directly | 0:05:55 | 0:05:59 | |
and got spelling mistakes in, it's not quite right, but seeing | 0:05:59 | 0:06:01 | |
some of our favourite pictures, | 0:06:01 | 0:06:03 | |
like this one here of Elliot down on the beach, | 0:06:03 | 0:06:06 | |
that's really hard to keep seeing that. | 0:06:06 | 0:06:07 | |
We showed some of the fake Operation Elliot sites to | 0:06:09 | 0:06:11 | |
the Fundraising Standards Board, | 0:06:11 | 0:06:13 | |
who regulate charity fundraising in the UK. | 0:06:13 | 0:06:17 | |
Chief Executive Alistair McLean says what happened to Elliot | 0:06:17 | 0:06:20 | |
is rare, but still a matter for concern. | 0:06:20 | 0:06:23 | |
Crowdfunding's a new | 0:06:23 | 0:06:24 | |
and very exciting platform for charities to raise funds, | 0:06:24 | 0:06:28 | |
but, like all things, where there's opportunity like that, | 0:06:28 | 0:06:31 | |
there's always a propensity for some fraud. | 0:06:31 | 0:06:33 | |
If you are suspicious, do some research, see if they're members | 0:06:33 | 0:06:36 | |
of the United Kingdom Crowdfunding Association. | 0:06:36 | 0:06:39 | |
If it's a charity, it may well be a member of | 0:06:39 | 0:06:41 | |
the Fundraising Standards Board. | 0:06:41 | 0:06:43 | |
Check to look for the Give With Confidence tick logo. | 0:06:43 | 0:06:45 | |
The Gowers have managed to get some, but not all | 0:06:48 | 0:06:50 | |
of the crowdfunding sites hosting the fake Operation Elliot appeals | 0:06:50 | 0:06:54 | |
taken down, but the damage has already been done. | 0:06:54 | 0:06:58 | |
Hundreds of pounds of donation meant for Elliot's surgery have | 0:06:58 | 0:07:02 | |
already been diverted into the accounts of the fakers. | 0:07:02 | 0:07:05 | |
Elliot's parents have since moved Operation Elliot | 0:07:05 | 0:07:08 | |
to the JustGiving website, but they, understandably, | 0:07:08 | 0:07:11 | |
remain angry about what's happened. | 0:07:11 | 0:07:13 | |
I think if we did find the people who had been doing this, | 0:07:15 | 0:07:17 | |
I would want them to come | 0:07:17 | 0:07:18 | |
and meet Elliot and see what opportunities | 0:07:18 | 0:07:20 | |
they were taking away from him, because I think if you met him and | 0:07:20 | 0:07:23 | |
saw what a lovely little boy he is, what good fun he is, what good spirit | 0:07:23 | 0:07:26 | |
he's got, that would really shame you for having done something like this. | 0:07:26 | 0:07:30 | |
This is a horse passport. | 0:07:37 | 0:07:39 | |
Every horse, pony and donkey in the UK has to have one. | 0:07:39 | 0:07:44 | |
They were introduced in 2004 to prevent the sale of | 0:07:44 | 0:07:48 | |
stolen horses, but this one is a fake. | 0:07:48 | 0:07:52 | |
It was obtained fraudulently to beat the system | 0:07:52 | 0:07:55 | |
and make money for the fakers, and we have evidence that | 0:07:55 | 0:07:59 | |
plenty of other people are doing the same thing. | 0:07:59 | 0:08:01 | |
Alexis Jacobson is a horse fanatic. She's ridden from an early age, | 0:08:03 | 0:08:08 | |
and has enjoyed many happy years riding her own beloved horse, Oscar. | 0:08:08 | 0:08:12 | |
But, as he got older and medical conditions arose, | 0:08:13 | 0:08:17 | |
she decided he shouldn't be ridden so much. | 0:08:17 | 0:08:19 | |
Oscar was an elderly horse at the time, he was 18, | 0:08:21 | 0:08:23 | |
he had been diagnosed with a back problem, | 0:08:23 | 0:08:26 | |
which meant it wasn't ideal for him to be ridden often. | 0:08:26 | 0:08:29 | |
We thought he might be in some discomfort. | 0:08:29 | 0:08:31 | |
We decided that we would put him out on loan as a companion only. | 0:08:31 | 0:08:35 | |
He would accompany another horse in a field, | 0:08:35 | 0:08:38 | |
maybe be very lightly ridden, but no more. | 0:08:38 | 0:08:40 | |
Alexis found a woman willing to take Oscar on loan from her | 0:08:41 | 0:08:45 | |
and she agreed to this, but some weeks after saying goodbye | 0:08:45 | 0:08:49 | |
to him, she wanted to see how he was settling in. | 0:08:49 | 0:08:52 | |
When she rang up the lady, however, she got no response, | 0:08:52 | 0:08:55 | |
despite persistent calls. | 0:08:55 | 0:08:57 | |
Terrified something might have happened to Oscar, | 0:08:59 | 0:09:02 | |
Alexis contacted Horsewatch, an equine crime prevention network. | 0:09:02 | 0:09:06 | |
Alarmingly, they'd had numerous complaints from other owners | 0:09:08 | 0:09:11 | |
about the same woman doing the same thing to them, | 0:09:11 | 0:09:14 | |
taking horses on loan and then losing contact. | 0:09:14 | 0:09:18 | |
We thought the worst, so we were worried he'd either gone to | 0:09:18 | 0:09:21 | |
an abattoir or been exported out of the country. | 0:09:21 | 0:09:24 | |
Alexis decided she'd do anything to find Oscar. | 0:09:25 | 0:09:29 | |
I trawled through the internet looking at horses that had | 0:09:30 | 0:09:33 | |
been advertised online. | 0:09:33 | 0:09:35 | |
I posted on horse forums, we had articles in horse magazines... | 0:09:35 | 0:09:40 | |
After four full years of searching, Alexis had a breakthrough. | 0:09:40 | 0:09:44 | |
I had posted his photo on a horse group in Facebook, | 0:09:44 | 0:09:48 | |
and someone got in touch with me to say that she recognised him | 0:09:48 | 0:09:53 | |
and that she knew where he was. | 0:09:53 | 0:09:54 | |
And when Alexis collected him, | 0:09:56 | 0:09:58 | |
she discovered why she'd not been able to find Oscar for four years. | 0:09:58 | 0:10:02 | |
At some point after she'd loaned him out, | 0:10:02 | 0:10:04 | |
he'd been sold on using a fake horse passport. | 0:10:04 | 0:10:08 | |
Oscar originally had an Irish horse passport. | 0:10:10 | 0:10:12 | |
He was imported from Ireland as an Irish sports horse. | 0:10:12 | 0:10:16 | |
All the information in this passport is totally accurate. | 0:10:16 | 0:10:19 | |
When Oscar was taken on loan, he was then issued with a new passport. | 0:10:19 | 0:10:26 | |
This is a pet ID passport. As you can see, it's got "Sid." | 0:10:26 | 0:10:29 | |
The fakers had applied for a new passport, | 0:10:31 | 0:10:33 | |
but faked Oscar's vital statistics. | 0:10:33 | 0:10:36 | |
Not only had they altered his name, but also his breed, | 0:10:36 | 0:10:39 | |
height and his age. | 0:10:39 | 0:10:41 | |
This meant it would be almost impossible to trace him | 0:10:41 | 0:10:45 | |
and, crucially, he could be sold as a younger, fitter horse | 0:10:45 | 0:10:48 | |
for more money. | 0:10:48 | 0:10:50 | |
OSCAR SNORTS | 0:10:50 | 0:10:51 | |
He then was ten years younger than he actually was, | 0:10:51 | 0:10:55 | |
and, obviously, much more appealing to prospective buyers. | 0:10:55 | 0:10:58 | |
Alexis discovered what had happened to Oscar | 0:10:59 | 0:11:02 | |
over the four years he'd been missing. | 0:11:02 | 0:11:04 | |
He went through a horse dealer, then was sold to a riding school, | 0:11:05 | 0:11:09 | |
so was being ridden in a riding school for a year... | 0:11:09 | 0:11:12 | |
it was just really heartbreaking. | 0:11:12 | 0:11:13 | |
To get a horse passport, | 0:11:15 | 0:11:17 | |
your application must be signed off by a vet, but it's difficult | 0:11:17 | 0:11:20 | |
for them to be sure of the age or provenance of a horse. | 0:11:20 | 0:11:24 | |
It's not helped by the fact there are 75 different issuing bodies | 0:11:24 | 0:11:28 | |
for the passports, with different standards and no central register. | 0:11:28 | 0:11:33 | |
Alexis and Oscar's case is by no means unique. | 0:11:33 | 0:11:36 | |
This is Delightful Dottie, a British spotted pony. | 0:11:38 | 0:11:42 | |
She was recently bought for £670 by a family in Devon who wanted | 0:11:42 | 0:11:46 | |
the right ride for their granddaughter. | 0:11:46 | 0:11:48 | |
Dottie was sold at Exeter horse sale. She was described as quiet to ride, | 0:11:50 | 0:11:55 | |
excellent in traffic, lovely on and off the lead rein, | 0:11:55 | 0:11:58 | |
and a real sweetie. | 0:11:58 | 0:12:00 | |
But, soon after the granddaughter started riding, | 0:12:00 | 0:12:03 | |
there was a serious problem. | 0:12:03 | 0:12:04 | |
She actually managed to buck the purchaser's grandchildren off | 0:12:06 | 0:12:13 | |
and bolted in traffic with her daughter. | 0:12:13 | 0:12:16 | |
The family decided that, following that incident where the grandchild | 0:12:16 | 0:12:19 | |
was thrown off, it was too dangerous to try and ride Dottie, | 0:12:19 | 0:12:22 | |
she's not used to being ridden, so it was unfair on the pony | 0:12:22 | 0:12:24 | |
and the grandchild to carry on trying to ride her. | 0:12:24 | 0:12:27 | |
Maria soon found out why the problem had come about. | 0:12:30 | 0:12:34 | |
She'd had other complaints about the stables that had sold | 0:12:34 | 0:12:36 | |
Dottie to the family, Quarrystone Stud. | 0:12:36 | 0:12:39 | |
Searching the stables, she found a number of horse passports, | 0:12:39 | 0:12:42 | |
including one for Delightful Dottie, and one for a very similar | 0:12:42 | 0:12:46 | |
looking horse with a very different name, Darcy Starlet. | 0:12:46 | 0:12:50 | |
In reality, they were one and the same pony. | 0:12:51 | 0:12:54 | |
Darcy Starlet was Dottie's real name. | 0:12:54 | 0:12:57 | |
So, this passport here is the genuine passport for this pony. | 0:12:58 | 0:13:03 | |
This details all of the pony's breeding, | 0:13:03 | 0:13:05 | |
all of her prior information, her date of birth, her previous keepers. | 0:13:05 | 0:13:09 | |
This passport is the passport that was fraudulently | 0:13:09 | 0:13:12 | |
applied for, for Delightful Dottie. | 0:13:12 | 0:13:15 | |
The details inside the passport are different. | 0:13:15 | 0:13:18 | |
It only details her name, her height, that she's a mare. | 0:13:18 | 0:13:23 | |
We have no details at all about her date of birth. | 0:13:23 | 0:13:26 | |
She was 23 when she was sold, whereas, verbally, | 0:13:27 | 0:13:30 | |
she was sold as being 14. | 0:13:30 | 0:13:32 | |
In fact, she was totally inappropriate to be sold for riding. | 0:13:32 | 0:13:36 | |
Dottie had only ever been used as a brood mare | 0:13:36 | 0:13:38 | |
and bred foals for 17 years of her life. | 0:13:38 | 0:13:41 | |
The person that owned Dottie before had never actually broken | 0:13:41 | 0:13:45 | |
her in, she had never had a bit in her mouth, or a saddle on her back. | 0:13:45 | 0:13:49 | |
The owners of Quarrystone Stud were found guilty of fraud | 0:13:49 | 0:13:52 | |
and other offences. | 0:13:52 | 0:13:54 | |
They were sentenced to six months imprisonment, | 0:13:54 | 0:13:56 | |
suspended for two years, and ordered to pay costs and compensation. | 0:13:56 | 0:14:00 | |
Roly Owers is from the charity World Horse Welfare. | 0:14:02 | 0:14:05 | |
He thinks the UK horse passport system is a mess. | 0:14:05 | 0:14:09 | |
We know that through a survey we ran last year where 20% of | 0:14:09 | 0:14:13 | |
horse owners said they had passports with irregularities in them. | 0:14:13 | 0:14:17 | |
We know that one passport issuing organisation | 0:14:17 | 0:14:20 | |
issued 7,000 passports after they were closed down | 0:14:20 | 0:14:24 | |
and, with at least 75 issuing organisations in the UK with | 0:14:24 | 0:14:30 | |
very, very different standards | 0:14:30 | 0:14:32 | |
and no central register or database, it's a complete fraudster's paradise. | 0:14:32 | 0:14:36 | |
Alexis, however, is just pleased to have Oscar back safe and sound. | 0:14:37 | 0:14:42 | |
He's really well-rested, relaxed, | 0:14:42 | 0:14:44 | |
and can live out the rest of his retirement days really happily. | 0:14:44 | 0:14:48 | |
Pet ID Equine, the company that issued the passports | 0:14:49 | 0:14:52 | |
in both cases, told us they were issued when... | 0:14:52 | 0:14:55 | |
They said... | 0:15:01 | 0:15:03 | |
They said they've echoed Roly Ower's call... | 0:15:14 | 0:15:16 | |
We thought that dangerous flammable furniture was | 0:15:25 | 0:15:27 | |
a thing of the past, thanks to tough British safety standards. | 0:15:27 | 0:15:31 | |
But it turns out we were wrong, because Fake Britain's found out | 0:15:32 | 0:15:36 | |
that top retailers have been selling illegal and dangerous furniture. | 0:15:36 | 0:15:42 | |
Are you sitting comfortably? | 0:15:42 | 0:15:43 | |
In a special Fake Britain programme shown previously, | 0:15:47 | 0:15:50 | |
we were alerted to serious concerns about the fire safety | 0:15:50 | 0:15:54 | |
of some furniture on sale in the UK. | 0:15:54 | 0:15:57 | |
Trading Standards alerted us to a case in West Yorkshire where an | 0:15:57 | 0:16:00 | |
independent retailer was prosecuted for selling unsafe furniture. | 0:16:00 | 0:16:04 | |
Maria Houston purchased two dream sofas from a branch | 0:16:04 | 0:16:08 | |
of the independent retailer in Bradford. | 0:16:08 | 0:16:10 | |
These two couches were absolutely stunning. | 0:16:14 | 0:16:18 | |
I just couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the price as well. | 0:16:18 | 0:16:22 | |
But when the sofas arrived, Maria was unhappy with the quality | 0:16:22 | 0:16:25 | |
and the service she'd received, so she contacted Trading Standards. | 0:16:25 | 0:16:30 | |
Officers in West Yorkshire began examining | 0:16:30 | 0:16:32 | |
the type of sofa she'd bought. | 0:16:32 | 0:16:34 | |
They had no idea what they were just about to find out. | 0:16:34 | 0:16:38 | |
We decided that we had real concerns about the safety, | 0:16:38 | 0:16:41 | |
so we visited the premises, | 0:16:41 | 0:16:43 | |
and we seized a sofa. | 0:16:43 | 0:16:45 | |
We submitted it to our testing service here, | 0:16:45 | 0:16:47 | |
who carried out the testing on the furniture. | 0:16:47 | 0:16:51 | |
To see if sofa foam complies with the UK fire safety regulations, | 0:16:51 | 0:16:55 | |
the law says it must be tested like this. | 0:16:55 | 0:16:57 | |
A small wooden crib is ignited and, if the sofa is safe, | 0:16:57 | 0:17:01 | |
it should catch fire. | 0:17:01 | 0:17:02 | |
But when Trading Standards tested the sofa they'd seized, | 0:17:12 | 0:17:15 | |
they made a shocking discovery. | 0:17:15 | 0:17:17 | |
It failed the test and it didn't just fail it a little bit, | 0:17:17 | 0:17:20 | |
it failed it very badly. | 0:17:20 | 0:17:21 | |
What you can see is that, having lit the crib, | 0:17:24 | 0:17:28 | |
it's already flaming away and what should happen is the crib | 0:17:28 | 0:17:31 | |
should go out, but this is untreated foam, so... | 0:17:31 | 0:17:35 | |
it's away. | 0:17:35 | 0:17:37 | |
After just two minutes, the fire had escalated dramatically. | 0:17:37 | 0:17:41 | |
That would be out of control in a house. | 0:17:41 | 0:17:44 | |
It had what the test house described as accelerating ignition, | 0:17:44 | 0:17:48 | |
which, to you and me, would mean a fireball. | 0:17:48 | 0:17:51 | |
Had it been in a house near some curtains, it would have been | 0:17:51 | 0:17:54 | |
a massive ignition source and it would have burnt the house down. | 0:17:54 | 0:17:57 | |
Maria's sofas were never tested, but she's worried they may be unsafe. | 0:17:58 | 0:18:03 | |
We showed her the test footage. | 0:18:03 | 0:18:06 | |
It's unbelievable. | 0:18:06 | 0:18:08 | |
God! | 0:18:08 | 0:18:09 | |
If my grandkids were here and we had a fire, | 0:18:10 | 0:18:12 | |
you just think the worst, don't you? | 0:18:12 | 0:18:14 | |
I'm gutted. | 0:18:14 | 0:18:16 | |
The consequences could be real danger | 0:18:17 | 0:18:20 | |
for anybody, not just me and my grandkids, or my nieces and nephews. | 0:18:20 | 0:18:24 | |
Anybody. | 0:18:24 | 0:18:26 | |
The independent retailer she'd bought them from | 0:18:26 | 0:18:28 | |
had five shops in Yorkshire. | 0:18:28 | 0:18:30 | |
They were successfully prosecuted and fined. | 0:18:30 | 0:18:34 | |
Both Maria's sofas, and those purchased by Trading Standards, | 0:18:34 | 0:18:37 | |
carried fire resistant labels claiming that | 0:18:37 | 0:18:40 | |
they met the UK regulations. | 0:18:40 | 0:18:42 | |
With at least the tested sofa, we know this claim was fake... | 0:18:42 | 0:18:46 | |
..and it wasn't the only one. | 0:18:47 | 0:18:49 | |
We caught up with Northampton Trading Standards prosecuting | 0:18:49 | 0:18:52 | |
a furniture distributor for also selling unsafe furniture. | 0:18:52 | 0:18:57 | |
They tested one of UK Sofa Distribution Ltd sofas | 0:18:57 | 0:19:01 | |
and the tests found that the foam filling didn't meet | 0:19:01 | 0:19:04 | |
the fire safety standards. | 0:19:04 | 0:19:05 | |
Northampton Trading Standards say noncompliant furniture is | 0:19:06 | 0:19:10 | |
a big problem for them. | 0:19:10 | 0:19:11 | |
So, over the last three years, we found quite a high failure rate | 0:19:13 | 0:19:16 | |
of the furniture that we have sampled and had tested. | 0:19:16 | 0:19:20 | |
Um, it's in...about 50% or above, | 0:19:20 | 0:19:24 | |
we've found have not complied with the relevant legislation. | 0:19:24 | 0:19:28 | |
UK Sofa Distribution Ltd were fined £4,000 plus £5,500 costs | 0:19:28 | 0:19:34 | |
for contravening the Consumer Protection Act. | 0:19:34 | 0:19:37 | |
The company's accountant Brian Pound told us it can be hard for | 0:19:37 | 0:19:41 | |
suppliers to police products coming in from abroad. | 0:19:41 | 0:19:44 | |
It's not as easy as it looks to comply in this industry. | 0:19:44 | 0:19:49 | |
Just because it comes in with a label that says that it's fit, | 0:19:49 | 0:19:52 | |
doesn't mean it's fit. | 0:19:52 | 0:19:54 | |
In the last two months alone, | 0:19:54 | 0:19:57 | |
we've turned away probably one and a half lorry worth | 0:19:57 | 0:20:00 | |
of furniture which we've looked at and said, | 0:20:00 | 0:20:02 | |
"Well, actually, we don't think that's up to the standard | 0:20:02 | 0:20:05 | |
"that we need to comply to." | 0:20:05 | 0:20:06 | |
It should be inconceivable that any sofa sold in Britain today | 0:20:07 | 0:20:11 | |
could fail the legal tests, because, in the 1970s and '80s, | 0:20:11 | 0:20:14 | |
after a series of deadly fires, | 0:20:14 | 0:20:17 | |
laws were passed to help protect us from dangerous furniture. | 0:20:17 | 0:20:21 | |
SIRENS WAIL | 0:20:25 | 0:20:26 | |
In May 1979, | 0:20:26 | 0:20:28 | |
a fire broke out in Woolworths in the centre of Manchester. | 0:20:28 | 0:20:32 | |
Fire crews arrived to find smoke billowing | 0:20:32 | 0:20:34 | |
from the six-storey building. | 0:20:34 | 0:20:37 | |
Can everybody here move away from the building? Urgent! | 0:20:37 | 0:20:41 | |
Bob Graham was one of the senior fire officers who | 0:20:41 | 0:20:44 | |
responded on that day. | 0:20:44 | 0:20:45 | |
What first struck me on arrival is the intensity of the fire, | 0:20:46 | 0:20:51 | |
and the amount of smoke that was coming out of the building. | 0:20:51 | 0:20:54 | |
It was tremendous | 0:20:54 | 0:20:57 | |
and there were approximately 500 people in the building | 0:20:57 | 0:21:01 | |
at the time the fire started... | 0:21:01 | 0:21:03 | |
so you can imagine the confusion. | 0:21:03 | 0:21:05 | |
The situation turned to horror as people were | 0:21:06 | 0:21:09 | |
trapped behind bars in an office at the rear of the building. | 0:21:09 | 0:21:12 | |
They were trapped and the fire was spreading across the floor, | 0:21:14 | 0:21:16 | |
they couldn't open the door onto the remainder of the fire floor, cos | 0:21:16 | 0:21:20 | |
they would have been killed instantly by the heat that was in there. | 0:21:20 | 0:21:24 | |
The urgent thing there was to get the bars off the window | 0:21:25 | 0:21:29 | |
and to get the people out, | 0:21:29 | 0:21:30 | |
and the crews did that very efficiently. | 0:21:30 | 0:21:32 | |
The firemen went inside to reassure the people that they were | 0:21:32 | 0:21:35 | |
going to be safe and, gradually, they were brought down to the ground. | 0:21:35 | 0:21:38 | |
Elsewhere in the building, ten people lost their lives | 0:21:39 | 0:21:43 | |
and 47 were injured. | 0:21:43 | 0:21:45 | |
The coroner at the inquest said anyone who was on the second floor | 0:21:47 | 0:21:53 | |
three minutes after the fire started was unlikely to escape. | 0:21:53 | 0:21:57 | |
That's how fast the fire grew. | 0:21:57 | 0:21:59 | |
Investigating the incident, Bob Graham soon discovered that | 0:22:00 | 0:22:04 | |
furniture was at the heart of the disaster. | 0:22:04 | 0:22:07 | |
He became a leading figure in the campaign for | 0:22:07 | 0:22:09 | |
tougher fire safety regulations | 0:22:09 | 0:22:12 | |
and was awarded an MBE for his work. | 0:22:12 | 0:22:15 | |
We reconstructed what was in Woolworths, set fire to it, | 0:22:15 | 0:22:19 | |
and monitored the effects. | 0:22:19 | 0:22:22 | |
And that showed us that | 0:22:22 | 0:22:23 | |
the furniture was the main contributor to this fire. | 0:22:23 | 0:22:27 | |
The Woolworths fire took ten lives. | 0:22:27 | 0:22:29 | |
There were another 700 at that time dying in their own homes | 0:22:29 | 0:22:34 | |
throughout the UK. | 0:22:34 | 0:22:36 | |
Campaigners persuaded the government to change the law, | 0:22:36 | 0:22:40 | |
and now manufacturers are obliged to make furniture using | 0:22:40 | 0:22:43 | |
fire resistant foam and materials in order to protect us. | 0:22:43 | 0:22:47 | |
'Chief fire officer Paul Fuller from Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service | 0:22:48 | 0:22:52 | |
'is the president of the Chief Fire Officers' Association' | 0:22:52 | 0:22:55 | |
and an expert in fire prevention. | 0:22:55 | 0:22:57 | |
In 35 years in the Fire Service, I've seen the devastation | 0:22:58 | 0:23:03 | |
caused by fires of all sorts and it is never a good thing. | 0:23:03 | 0:23:06 | |
It is worsened if the materials that are inside rooms | 0:23:06 | 0:23:11 | |
burn more readily, such as noncompliant furniture. | 0:23:11 | 0:23:17 | |
Paul knows just how dangerous a fire involving this furniture can be. | 0:23:18 | 0:23:22 | |
The catastrophic effects are demonstrated by this | 0:23:22 | 0:23:25 | |
living room fire test carried out before | 0:23:25 | 0:23:27 | |
the regulations came into force. | 0:23:27 | 0:23:29 | |
Very, very quickly, the room in which that furniture is | 0:23:31 | 0:23:34 | |
involved will become completely uninhabitable. | 0:23:34 | 0:23:37 | |
You can't breathe, you can't see, it's too hot, | 0:23:38 | 0:23:41 | |
you can't find your way around and you're choking to death. | 0:23:41 | 0:23:45 | |
Noncompliant furniture risks the lives of people in their homes. | 0:23:45 | 0:23:50 | |
It's very, very dangerous indeed. | 0:23:50 | 0:23:51 | |
Coming up, how our investigation revealed | 0:23:55 | 0:23:58 | |
catastrophic fire safety failings | 0:23:58 | 0:24:01 | |
in mattresses sold by high street retailers. | 0:24:01 | 0:24:04 | |
It would be so hot and so full of smoke and gas | 0:24:04 | 0:24:07 | |
that it would be unsurvivable. | 0:24:07 | 0:24:09 | |
In only about six minutes, it would be a terrifying place to be | 0:24:09 | 0:24:13 | |
trapped in those probably last few minutes of survival. | 0:24:13 | 0:24:17 | |
Many children dream of mastering a musical instrument like the piano | 0:24:24 | 0:24:28 | |
and their dedicated parents can spend up to £50 an hour | 0:24:28 | 0:24:32 | |
on piano lessons week in, week out for years. | 0:24:32 | 0:24:36 | |
Even though it's Largo, which is slow, | 0:24:36 | 0:24:38 | |
you need it just a fraction quicker. | 0:24:38 | 0:24:41 | |
To help their child achieve their musical ambitions | 0:24:41 | 0:24:44 | |
and go from sounding like this... | 0:24:44 | 0:24:46 | |
SHE PLAYS TUNELESSLY | 0:24:46 | 0:24:48 | |
..to this. | 0:24:48 | 0:24:49 | |
PIANO MELODY PLAYS | 0:24:49 | 0:24:51 | |
All that effort for an official certificate that says, | 0:24:51 | 0:24:54 | |
"You're now pitch perfect." | 0:24:54 | 0:24:56 | |
But what if that certificate was a fake | 0:24:56 | 0:24:59 | |
and not even worth the paper it was printed on? | 0:24:59 | 0:25:01 | |
Among the hills of Lisburn in Northern Ireland, | 0:25:03 | 0:25:06 | |
a seemingly perfect piano teacher was putting | 0:25:06 | 0:25:09 | |
local budding musicians through their paces. | 0:25:09 | 0:25:12 | |
Claire Thompson was a music graduate, | 0:25:12 | 0:25:14 | |
she was a qualified teacher, she was a very highly regarded teacher, | 0:25:14 | 0:25:18 | |
and she'd worked in a local music college | 0:25:18 | 0:25:20 | |
here for some years before beginning to teach privately. | 0:25:20 | 0:25:24 | |
So, for all intents and purposes, | 0:25:24 | 0:25:25 | |
she was a highly regarded person in the community. | 0:25:25 | 0:25:28 | |
But Claire Thompson was not all she seemed. | 0:25:29 | 0:25:33 | |
She would end up betraying her young students and their parents, | 0:25:33 | 0:25:36 | |
like this mum, who was looking for the best musical education | 0:25:36 | 0:25:40 | |
for her daughter. | 0:25:40 | 0:25:41 | |
My daughter was showing great talent in music | 0:25:41 | 0:25:44 | |
and we decided that we'd send her to lessons. | 0:25:44 | 0:25:49 | |
She was getting the results up to grade 4 and getting great marks. | 0:25:49 | 0:25:53 | |
After nearly two years of being taught by Claire Thompson, | 0:25:55 | 0:25:58 | |
the big day finally arrived for the young pianist... | 0:25:58 | 0:26:01 | |
her grade 5 piano exam, which was to take place in a local church hall. | 0:26:01 | 0:26:07 | |
So far, so good, but it was what happened after the piano exam | 0:26:08 | 0:26:12 | |
that made the student's mum suspicious. | 0:26:12 | 0:26:15 | |
I said, "How did it go?" | 0:26:15 | 0:26:16 | |
And she says, "It was really good, actually." | 0:26:16 | 0:26:19 | |
She said that the examiner was able to tell her that she'd passed | 0:26:19 | 0:26:24 | |
and that they all went out for lunch afterwards, had a great chat | 0:26:24 | 0:26:28 | |
and it was all very nice. | 0:26:28 | 0:26:29 | |
And I kind of just thought, | 0:26:29 | 0:26:32 | |
"Well, that was really a little bit strange." Any of the exams | 0:26:32 | 0:26:36 | |
that they'd had before, it was very formal, very serious, | 0:26:36 | 0:26:41 | |
and, you know, they would never had been told the result on the day. | 0:26:41 | 0:26:47 | |
As it turns out, she wasn't the only parent who was concerned. | 0:26:47 | 0:26:51 | |
The police service of Northern Ireland was starting to | 0:26:51 | 0:26:54 | |
receive phone calls from a number of parents | 0:26:54 | 0:26:57 | |
suspicious about their children's music exams. | 0:26:57 | 0:27:00 | |
'They felt that there was something wrong with the exams. | 0:27:00 | 0:27:02 | |
'Some of the families hadn't received certificates' | 0:27:02 | 0:27:04 | |
and they had made enquiries with the examining | 0:27:04 | 0:27:08 | |
boards to see where the certificates were and what the hold up was. | 0:27:08 | 0:27:11 | |
And, when they made those enquiries, it became clear that the children | 0:27:11 | 0:27:15 | |
were not registered with the examining body, nor was the teacher. | 0:27:15 | 0:27:18 | |
Realising they could be dealing with a serious fraudster, | 0:27:20 | 0:27:24 | |
the police began to spread the word amongst local concerned parents. | 0:27:24 | 0:27:28 | |
I phoned the next day the London College of Music | 0:27:29 | 0:27:32 | |
and to be told, "Yes, unfortunately, your daughter doesn't have | 0:27:32 | 0:27:37 | |
"grade 5 piano," and that she wasn't registered. | 0:27:37 | 0:27:41 | |
'So, all of a sudden, a bomb had kind of dropped.' | 0:27:41 | 0:27:44 | |
After all the hard work, she didn't have anything to show for it. | 0:27:44 | 0:27:48 | |
The London College of Music is the largest specialist music | 0:27:48 | 0:27:52 | |
and performing arts institution in the UK. | 0:27:52 | 0:27:55 | |
It's part of the University of West London, which was, | 0:27:55 | 0:27:58 | |
until recently, known as Thames Valley. | 0:27:58 | 0:28:02 | |
The college is one of a small number of official examining bodies | 0:28:02 | 0:28:06 | |
authorised to award graded exams in music. | 0:28:06 | 0:28:09 | |
Claire Thompson's students thought they'd be getting | 0:28:09 | 0:28:12 | |
official certificates from the London College of Music, | 0:28:12 | 0:28:15 | |
but for those few students who did eventually | 0:28:15 | 0:28:18 | |
get their certificates, something wasn't right. | 0:28:18 | 0:28:21 | |
The London College of Music was actually very helpful to us | 0:28:21 | 0:28:24 | |
during the whole process. | 0:28:24 | 0:28:26 | |
They came to Northern Ireland, they looked at the certificates, | 0:28:26 | 0:28:29 | |
and they were very quickly able to say that the certificates | 0:28:29 | 0:28:33 | |
we had in our possession were fake. | 0:28:33 | 0:28:35 | |
With fake certificates now in their possession, the police had | 0:28:36 | 0:28:40 | |
all the evidence they needed to search Claire Thompson's house. | 0:28:40 | 0:28:44 | |
During that search, the computer was seized, | 0:28:44 | 0:28:47 | |
a music diary was seized, some personal documentation, | 0:28:47 | 0:28:50 | |
and certificates in various states of preparation. | 0:28:50 | 0:28:56 | |
Amongst the documents seized were a fake London College of Music | 0:28:56 | 0:29:00 | |
scoring chart and the fake certificates themselves. | 0:29:00 | 0:29:05 | |
The middle document is the most important document | 0:29:06 | 0:29:08 | |
for the investigation, because it is the fake music certificate | 0:29:08 | 0:29:11 | |
that was passed to the families by Claire Thompson. | 0:29:11 | 0:29:14 | |
As you can see, it's a fairly professional and impressive looking document. | 0:29:14 | 0:29:19 | |
The police had enough hard evidence to bring | 0:29:19 | 0:29:21 | |
Claire Thompson in for questioning. | 0:29:21 | 0:29:23 | |
Claire Thompson's demeanour generally was calm and collected | 0:29:23 | 0:29:26 | |
as she denied any dishonesty whatsoever. | 0:29:26 | 0:29:29 | |
Claire Thompson had even duped the examiners of the tests, | 0:29:29 | 0:29:33 | |
telling one of them that they were doing a mock exam | 0:29:33 | 0:29:35 | |
under strict exam conditions, | 0:29:35 | 0:29:37 | |
while the students thought they were doing the real thing. | 0:29:37 | 0:29:40 | |
Thompson was brazen enough to fake the tests in a church hall | 0:29:40 | 0:29:44 | |
that turned out to be just opposite the police station where | 0:29:44 | 0:29:47 | |
Inspector Johnston was working. | 0:29:47 | 0:29:50 | |
In court, Thompson eventually pleaded guilty | 0:29:50 | 0:29:53 | |
to 14 counts of fraud by false representation | 0:29:53 | 0:29:57 | |
and two further counts of using a false instrument. | 0:29:57 | 0:30:01 | |
She was given a two-year probation order. | 0:30:01 | 0:30:03 | |
But although she was brought to justice, this is | 0:30:05 | 0:30:07 | |
a story of fakery that's ended on a sad note for one of her victims. | 0:30:07 | 0:30:12 | |
My daughter stopped playing piano two years ago | 0:30:13 | 0:30:16 | |
and has never touched the keyboard there since... | 0:30:16 | 0:30:21 | |
and that is sad. | 0:30:21 | 0:30:23 | |
You'll get bigger frauds, you'll get more complex frauds, | 0:30:25 | 0:30:28 | |
you'll get victims, you know, | 0:30:28 | 0:30:29 | |
probably even more vulnerable victims, | 0:30:29 | 0:30:31 | |
old people or disabled people, but this impacted on the children | 0:30:31 | 0:30:34 | |
and that's what left a bad taste in my mouth about this investigation. | 0:30:34 | 0:30:38 | |
Whilst music exam fraud is rare, it is happening elsewhere. | 0:30:40 | 0:30:45 | |
Fake Britain's uncovered other cases across the country, including | 0:30:45 | 0:30:49 | |
that of a fake examiner, which is currently under investigation. | 0:30:49 | 0:30:54 | |
Before your child takes their music exam, you can check | 0:30:54 | 0:30:57 | |
with the awarding body to make sure the examiner is registered | 0:30:57 | 0:31:01 | |
and the exam itself is genuine. | 0:31:01 | 0:31:04 | |
In our special report on furniture safety, | 0:31:11 | 0:31:13 | |
we revealed how sofas sold on Britain's high streets | 0:31:13 | 0:31:16 | |
dramatically failed fire safety tests, | 0:31:16 | 0:31:19 | |
proving claims about them meeting fire safety standards were fake. | 0:31:19 | 0:31:23 | |
But it didn't end there. | 0:31:23 | 0:31:25 | |
As we were investigating the sofas, | 0:31:25 | 0:31:27 | |
we were told about the existence of equally dangerous noncompliant | 0:31:27 | 0:31:31 | |
mattresses that were being sold by major high street names. | 0:31:31 | 0:31:35 | |
Here in Lancashire, bed manufacturer Silentnight | 0:31:36 | 0:31:39 | |
have their own in-house test lab | 0:31:39 | 0:31:42 | |
and carry out regular fire testing of all the products they sell. | 0:31:42 | 0:31:46 | |
They demonstrated to us the importance of a safe mattress. | 0:31:46 | 0:31:49 | |
There are products out there, which... | 0:31:50 | 0:31:53 | |
really are a death trap in the consumer's home and, frankly, | 0:31:53 | 0:31:57 | |
that has to be a concern, has to be a worry. | 0:31:57 | 0:31:59 | |
That kind of product we've got to stamp out of this market. | 0:31:59 | 0:32:02 | |
We joined them at Lancashire Fire and Rescue to see how | 0:32:03 | 0:32:06 | |
a safe and legal mattress should behave in the event of a fire using | 0:32:06 | 0:32:10 | |
one of their products as a demonstration. | 0:32:10 | 0:32:13 | |
To simulate what would happen in the event of a house fire, | 0:32:13 | 0:32:17 | |
the rest was set up like a real bedroom. | 0:32:17 | 0:32:19 | |
We are going to use a wooden crib | 0:32:19 | 0:32:22 | |
as the ignition source... | 0:32:22 | 0:32:24 | |
which we will place on the centre of the mattress and, basically, | 0:32:24 | 0:32:27 | |
set fire to it. | 0:32:27 | 0:32:29 | |
The ignited crib burns steadily. | 0:32:29 | 0:32:31 | |
Despite the crib falling over, the foam filling of the mattress didn't | 0:32:31 | 0:32:35 | |
catch fire and, after two minutes and 44 seconds, the fire died out. | 0:32:35 | 0:32:39 | |
The wooden crib took between two to three minutes to burn out, | 0:32:41 | 0:32:44 | |
so that's a compliant mattress. | 0:32:44 | 0:32:46 | |
They then brought in what they suspected was an illegal | 0:32:48 | 0:32:51 | |
memory foam mattress for testing, purchased from another bed supplier. | 0:32:51 | 0:32:56 | |
If it had been treated for flammability, | 0:32:56 | 0:32:58 | |
it shouldn't catch fire, but, if the mattress were to fail the test, | 0:32:58 | 0:33:02 | |
it would be an illegal product. | 0:33:02 | 0:33:04 | |
The label, however, stated it was a legal mattress. | 0:33:04 | 0:33:07 | |
The crib on the safe mattress burnt out at two minutes and 43 seconds. | 0:33:10 | 0:33:14 | |
After the same amount of time, | 0:33:14 | 0:33:16 | |
fire had taken hold of the suspect mattress. | 0:33:16 | 0:33:19 | |
After nearly six minutes, | 0:33:22 | 0:33:23 | |
the mattress fire had filled the room with toxic smoke. | 0:33:23 | 0:33:26 | |
More than half of all house fire fatalities | 0:33:28 | 0:33:31 | |
are caused by smoke inhalation. | 0:33:31 | 0:33:33 | |
Less than a minute later, the room had been engulfed by flames. | 0:33:36 | 0:33:40 | |
The window exploded. | 0:33:41 | 0:33:42 | |
GLASS SHATTERS | 0:33:43 | 0:33:44 | |
The carpet, the curtains and the bed had been destroyed. | 0:33:44 | 0:33:49 | |
The fire reached, approximately, 1,000 degrees. | 0:33:49 | 0:33:52 | |
At nearly 11 minutes, it was an inferno. | 0:33:55 | 0:33:58 | |
The small camera that we'd been using to record a closer shot | 0:33:58 | 0:34:01 | |
was a little too close to the fire. | 0:34:01 | 0:34:03 | |
The fire officer rescued it from the heat of the blaze. | 0:34:03 | 0:34:06 | |
And then a fire and rescue service officer stepped in to | 0:34:09 | 0:34:12 | |
extinguish the fireball as it had reached an unsafe level. | 0:34:12 | 0:34:16 | |
Clearly, in that situation, | 0:34:32 | 0:34:33 | |
if there had been people in that property, then, very clearly, | 0:34:33 | 0:34:37 | |
there would have been a very, very strong risk of fatalities. | 0:34:37 | 0:34:40 | |
It would be so hot and so full of smoke and gas, | 0:34:40 | 0:34:44 | |
that it would be unsurvivable. | 0:34:44 | 0:34:45 | |
In only about six minutes, | 0:34:45 | 0:34:47 | |
it would be a terrifying place to be trapped... | 0:34:47 | 0:34:50 | |
in those, probably, last few minutes of survival. | 0:34:50 | 0:34:53 | |
We were shocked that, despite tough regulations, | 0:34:55 | 0:34:57 | |
furniture like this was available. | 0:34:57 | 0:35:00 | |
We then went on to investigate dangerous mattresses further | 0:35:00 | 0:35:04 | |
by seeing what we could buy ourselves. | 0:35:04 | 0:35:06 | |
We decided to conduct our own tests. | 0:35:09 | 0:35:11 | |
In December 2013, we bought a series of rolled memory foam mattresses by | 0:35:11 | 0:35:16 | |
Ventura sold under the brand name Sleep Secrets from leading | 0:35:16 | 0:35:20 | |
online and high street retailers. | 0:35:20 | 0:35:23 | |
We bought samples of their Sleep Secrets Cool Gel | 0:35:23 | 0:35:26 | |
and Napoli memory foam mattresses from the Argos, Homebase, | 0:35:26 | 0:35:30 | |
Tesco Direct, and Amazon websites, | 0:35:30 | 0:35:32 | |
with prices ranging from £140 to £300. | 0:35:32 | 0:35:38 | |
We then took our mattresses to FIRA, | 0:35:38 | 0:35:40 | |
the Furniture Industry Research Association test lab | 0:35:40 | 0:35:43 | |
in Hertfordshire. | 0:35:43 | 0:35:44 | |
It's one of the UK's leading testing centres | 0:35:44 | 0:35:47 | |
and they were able to test whether the mattresses were up to standard. | 0:35:47 | 0:35:50 | |
One of their experts, Steve Cotton, | 0:35:52 | 0:35:54 | |
carried out crib tests on samples of the foam from the mattresses. | 0:35:54 | 0:35:58 | |
The Sleep Secrets Comfort Cool Gel memory foam mattress | 0:36:03 | 0:36:06 | |
we bought from the Argos website | 0:36:06 | 0:36:08 | |
was ignited using the crib test. | 0:36:08 | 0:36:11 | |
The foam ignited and burned steadily. | 0:36:11 | 0:36:13 | |
Very quickly, it represented a serious risk. | 0:36:14 | 0:36:17 | |
After two minutes and 39 seconds, | 0:36:21 | 0:36:23 | |
Steve switched on the fire extinguisher. | 0:36:23 | 0:36:25 | |
The mattress had failed. | 0:36:28 | 0:36:30 | |
This meant Argos was selling an illegal product in the UK. | 0:36:30 | 0:36:34 | |
Because the foam's actually failed, it's not legal to be | 0:36:37 | 0:36:40 | |
sold as any part of furniture, whether it's a chair or a mattress. | 0:36:40 | 0:36:45 | |
The foam's actually illegal for furniture use in the UK. | 0:36:45 | 0:36:48 | |
Next was the Sleep Secrets Cool Gel memory foam | 0:36:48 | 0:36:51 | |
single mattress from Homebase. | 0:36:51 | 0:36:53 | |
The mattress foam ignited. | 0:36:58 | 0:37:00 | |
It wasn't long until it reached the limit. | 0:37:02 | 0:37:05 | |
The blaze was extinguished... | 0:37:05 | 0:37:06 | |
and this mattress had also failed the test. | 0:37:08 | 0:37:11 | |
As a result, Homebase was also selling an illegal product. | 0:37:11 | 0:37:15 | |
If it was the entire mattress and it was to catch light, | 0:37:16 | 0:37:19 | |
due to the rate that the flames would develop and spread and the amount | 0:37:19 | 0:37:22 | |
of smoke produced, it would make it very difficult for anybody to escape. | 0:37:22 | 0:37:25 | |
Next to be tested was a Sleep Secrets 15cm Celsius Cool Gel | 0:37:25 | 0:37:30 | |
memory foam mattress we bought from Tesco Direct. | 0:37:30 | 0:37:33 | |
The crib was ignited again and, yet again... | 0:37:33 | 0:37:37 | |
our test showed frighteningly quick acceleration of the fire | 0:37:37 | 0:37:40 | |
representing a real danger in the consumer's home. | 0:37:40 | 0:37:44 | |
The mattress had failed. | 0:37:45 | 0:37:47 | |
Tesco Direct was also selling an illegal product on their website. | 0:37:48 | 0:37:53 | |
Next was a Sleep Secrets 18cm Napoli mattress | 0:37:55 | 0:37:59 | |
purchased from the Amazon website. | 0:37:59 | 0:38:01 | |
This was the fourth and final mattress we tested. | 0:38:01 | 0:38:04 | |
It also failed. | 0:38:07 | 0:38:08 | |
Shockingly, our investigation had revealed that Argos, Homebase, | 0:38:17 | 0:38:21 | |
Tesco Direct and Amazon were each selling | 0:38:21 | 0:38:24 | |
an illegal product in the UK. | 0:38:24 | 0:38:26 | |
We spoke to Jessica Alexander from the National Bed Federation | 0:38:27 | 0:38:31 | |
to find out exactly how this could have happened. | 0:38:31 | 0:38:33 | |
In the last few years, because of the recession, | 0:38:33 | 0:38:37 | |
we've seen more manufacturers perhaps try | 0:38:37 | 0:38:40 | |
and cut corners in order to reduce their prices. | 0:38:40 | 0:38:43 | |
And, therefore, we do feel it has become more of an issue for consumers | 0:38:43 | 0:38:48 | |
to be taken in by products which aren't quite what they say they are. | 0:38:48 | 0:38:52 | |
CAMERA SNAPS | 0:38:54 | 0:38:55 | |
All of the Sleep Secrets mattresses we'd bought had been made in China. | 0:38:55 | 0:38:59 | |
They all carried fire resistance labels. | 0:38:59 | 0:39:02 | |
So, to check out the authenticity of the labels, | 0:39:02 | 0:39:05 | |
we took them to the British Standards Institution. | 0:39:05 | 0:39:09 | |
This label conforms with the British Standard. | 0:39:09 | 0:39:11 | |
This label is fake. | 0:39:12 | 0:39:14 | |
Anybody who knows anything about | 0:39:14 | 0:39:16 | |
the labels should have noticed there was a problem. | 0:39:16 | 0:39:19 | |
We look at these two labels. | 0:39:19 | 0:39:20 | |
If we measure this one, it should be 15mm by 15mm. | 0:39:20 | 0:39:23 | |
It should be a white background with blue border around it | 0:39:24 | 0:39:29 | |
and it should have the word "resistant" written across the | 0:39:29 | 0:39:32 | |
blue border in white lettering, which should be at least 5mm in size. | 0:39:32 | 0:39:37 | |
Any writing and diagrams that are on the label should | 0:39:37 | 0:39:41 | |
appear in the white box and should all be black. | 0:39:41 | 0:39:44 | |
This one is considerably smaller. | 0:39:44 | 0:39:46 | |
As you can see, it's less than 15mm by 15mm. | 0:39:46 | 0:39:49 | |
Um, the blue pictures are wrong, um, the size is wrong, | 0:39:50 | 0:39:56 | |
and the use of this number here is wrong. | 0:39:56 | 0:39:58 | |
It would appear that no-one at Argos, Homebase, Tesco Direct | 0:40:00 | 0:40:04 | |
or Amazon had noticed. | 0:40:04 | 0:40:05 | |
After the broadcast of our special report, | 0:40:05 | 0:40:08 | |
the mattress supplier, Ventura Corporation, | 0:40:08 | 0:40:11 | |
which owns the Sleep Secrets brand, | 0:40:11 | 0:40:13 | |
set up their own investigation about what went wrong. | 0:40:13 | 0:40:16 | |
They told us that their Chinese suppliers | 0:40:16 | 0:40:18 | |
had wrongly given them a quantity of mattresses that met European | 0:40:18 | 0:40:22 | |
fire regulations but not UK ones. | 0:40:22 | 0:40:25 | |
That's because British fire safety standards on furniture are | 0:40:25 | 0:40:28 | |
far more stringent than those in the rest of Europe. | 0:40:28 | 0:40:31 | |
Unbelievably, this was not picked up on by the British Standard | 0:40:31 | 0:40:35 | |
approved test houses Ventura had been using in China. | 0:40:35 | 0:40:39 | |
It might sound surprising that British safety checks | 0:40:39 | 0:40:41 | |
are being carried out abroad, | 0:40:41 | 0:40:43 | |
but with the massive growth in products made in China and elsewhere | 0:40:43 | 0:40:47 | |
for the UK market, it's a situation that's become increasingly common. | 0:40:47 | 0:40:52 | |
Ventura told us they've now moved their fire safety testing to | 0:40:52 | 0:40:55 | |
an approved UK laboratory. | 0:40:55 | 0:40:57 | |
They said at no point had they knowingly sold fake goods. | 0:40:57 | 0:41:02 | |
Our reports clearly had an effect. | 0:41:02 | 0:41:04 | |
Product recalls were issued by both the Ventura Corporation | 0:41:04 | 0:41:08 | |
and the Home Retail Group which owns Argos and Homebase. | 0:41:08 | 0:41:12 | |
Any customers that had bought affected products were | 0:41:12 | 0:41:14 | |
offered a replacement. | 0:41:14 | 0:41:16 | |
Both organisations said they'd received a strong response to this. | 0:41:16 | 0:41:20 | |
They said they were very sorry for any concern | 0:41:20 | 0:41:22 | |
the issue may have caused. | 0:41:22 | 0:41:24 | |
Tesco Direct said, following their own investigation, | 0:41:24 | 0:41:27 | |
they were no longer selling Ventura mattresses because they were | 0:41:27 | 0:41:30 | |
not satisfied the mattresses met Tesco's high standards, | 0:41:30 | 0:41:34 | |
and Amazon said they had an established process in place, | 0:41:34 | 0:41:38 | |
which enables third parties, | 0:41:38 | 0:41:39 | |
including rights holders to provide them | 0:41:39 | 0:41:41 | |
with notice of infringements or noncompliant products, | 0:41:41 | 0:41:45 | |
and respond rapidly to any such notice, | 0:41:45 | 0:41:47 | |
including removing items. | 0:41:47 | 0:41:49 | |
The mattress industry is taking the problem seriously. | 0:41:51 | 0:41:54 | |
They've recently launched a new code of practice for manufacturers | 0:41:54 | 0:41:58 | |
to sign up to. | 0:41:58 | 0:41:59 | |
Consumers can go onto the Bed Federation website where | 0:41:59 | 0:42:02 | |
a full list of members along with their certification is published. | 0:42:02 | 0:42:07 | |
Check that's current and that will be additional reassurance | 0:42:07 | 0:42:11 | |
that they are buying from producers who take the regulations | 0:42:11 | 0:42:15 | |
seriously and ensure that their products are safe. | 0:42:15 | 0:42:19 | |
Despite the supplier and retailer's actions after our report, | 0:42:19 | 0:42:23 | |
the fact remains that Argos, Homebase, Tesco Direct, | 0:42:23 | 0:42:27 | |
and Amazon had been selling illegal furniture in the UK. | 0:42:27 | 0:42:31 | |
This shocks a leading campaigner in fire safety who thought | 0:42:31 | 0:42:34 | |
this problem had been solved over 25 years ago. | 0:42:34 | 0:42:38 | |
To find that people are selling hazardous furniture to the | 0:42:38 | 0:42:42 | |
general public... | 0:42:42 | 0:42:44 | |
particularly when they have a reputation... | 0:42:44 | 0:42:47 | |
I mean, that's reprehensible. | 0:42:47 | 0:42:49 | |
The whole purpose of the regulations were to | 0:42:51 | 0:42:54 | |
drive down the risk of fires killing people in their homes. | 0:42:54 | 0:43:00 | |
To go back to that would be completely heinous | 0:43:00 | 0:43:03 | |
and we've got to do everything we can to ensure that we don't. | 0:43:03 | 0:43:06 | |
That's all from Fake Britain. Goodbye. | 0:43:11 | 0:43:13 |