Episode 1 How Safe Is Your House?

Every year, 5,000 people die in household accidents across the UK

and 3 million others end up in A

The scale of some of the potentially fatal hazards

in all our homes is shocking.

And the actions of the dodgy and deceitful few

who put lives in danger is scandalous.

Every one of us is at risk,

so take a look around and ask yourself...

How safe is your house?

You might not realise it but dangers exist in all our homes,

so in this series we're going to show you

where you're most at risk and how you can stay safe.

I'm Mark Clemmit and, with the help of DIY SOS's Mark Millar,

we'll be hunting down the bad guys whose shoddy work

leaves households all over the UK in lethal condition.

You know what? The loft could come down, this is not safe.

Caught you red-handed, is there anything you'd like to say?

I'm Angelica Bell, and I'll be at the sharp end with the agencies

at the front line of the battle to keep our homes safe 24/7.

If you were buying something like this, or this product,

you wouldn't think anything was wrong at all.

And we'll reveal the deadly dangers that lurk in your home.

The items that I found have the potential to end life.

Tonight...

Trading Standards Officers move in after receiving a tip-off

about deadly toys being smuggled into the country.

There are 23 different products.

Wow. It's packed tight.

And a homeowner is confronted by one of the UK's

deadliest household hazards.

Her natural instinct will be to get out of there,

but that's not really what we're there for.

But first...

our search for hazardous builders has taken us

into every corner of the UK, and today our travels take us

to the majestic Highlands of Scotland to hunt out this man.

# Danger! Danger! #

'His name is Norman Hughes, and I'm visiting one of the many

'homeowners who've experienced the destruction he leaves in his wake.'

Fay. Mark. Hello. Nice to meet you. How do you do?

Fay Wilson lives with her partner at the foot of Ben Nevis

in Fort William, and she fell victim to Hughes's dangerous handiwork

when he completely botched her conservatory.

Just rubble lying everywhere. It was unsafe.

There were pieces of metal and bits of plastic and things falling off it.

If there was a high wind at all or rain,

you could see the roof moving up and down!

And at any moment a bit of it could have slipped away

and placed the pair of you in danger.

It was total shoddy, shoddy work, yeah.

'Hughes's work was so bad that the conservatory

'had to be knocked down and completely rebuilt.'

It is a horrible experience, isn't it? It is.

And it's hit your purse strings hard, I guess? Exactly, yes.

It's cost us a lot of money. It cost about ?13,000.

Fay's story is shocking but it's just the tip of the iceberg.

We found 17 complaints recorded

with Trading Standards alone about Hughes.

And Mark Millar is inspecting his work on the roof

of another of his victims -

68-year-old grandfather-of-nine Roddy Bruce.

So, Roddy, you found Norman Hughes advertising locally.

What did he actually do for you?

He just put a piece of thin felt over the top of the original felt.

Since the work's been done, there's some damp marks inside,

and I think it's obvious that the water's bound to be getting under

the felt that he's put there.

This damp is not an ideal situation,

I'm prone to chest infections and stuff like that.

Damp might not be an immediate threat to life and limb

but, with Roddy's health problems, it's a serious issue.

And the evidence of the danger

Hughes poses to his customers keeps growing.

So, Ewan, on the quote it says,

"Remove all existing gutters, fascias, soffits, etc,

"supply and fit new white uPVC fascias and gutters,

"soffits and downpipes - 1,120 quid."

Did he do this?

No.

To be honest, he made a bit of a mess of my house.

He's put the wrong size of guttering up,

which doesn't link in to my neighbour's gutters,

so the gutters leak, he never replaced the downpipes,

he didn't take the old rotten fascias off,

so it's just caused a bit of chaos, to be honest.

The problem with Hughes is that he keeps carrying out

shoddy and dangerous work over and over and again.

In time, Ewan's fascias could come crashing down,

and Mark's also concerned about the long-term

structural integrity of the roof.

Having people like that, you know,

working on houses, doing all sorts of different odd jobs,

it's just appalling that he can get away with that, you know.

We couldn't agree more.

I'm determined to confront and expose Hughes,

but finding him could be easier said than done.

Well, this is one of the addresses

that Norman used on one of his websites.

It looks like a load of old garages to me.

'Not so much as a letter box - that was never Hughes's HQ.'

At least there are houses this time, although,

according to Trading Standards, he no longer lives around here.

'This isn't going well. Onto our final address.'

And another, although, according to the electoral roll,

he's never actually been here.

Hmm.

The problem is that Hughes no longer has a known fixed address.

Before he fell off their radar, Highland Council's

Trading Standards division did issue him with an Enforcement Order.

That means that if he carries out any more dangerous work

he can be fined and sent to prison.

But he's now ignoring their efforts to arrange meetings

by phone, and his customers can't get him

to put right the problems he's caused, either.

He doesn't return my calls, he didn't try and remedy any faults,

it was just a joke.

As soon he realised who I was he hung up the phone.

I phoned him again and he said,

"I will come and have a look and see what they've done."

But never appeared.

'This is a man who has no regard for his customers or the law,

'but I'm determined to track him down and expose him.'

'It's time for a How Safe Is Your House? trap.

All I need is a house...

and a fake job.

We think there is a leak on the tiles.

Do you reckon you could pop round Thursday?

But will Norman Hughes show up?

At ports and airports all over the UK

millions of products flow through our borders

and thousands of officers from different agencies work 24/7

to try to ensure an any illegal and dangerous products are kept out.

That's completely banned now in cosmetic products.

That smells like bleach!

So you really want to put that on your skin, don't you? Well, exactly.

'And quite often these officers are the last line of defence,

'stopping these dangerous goods from entering our homes.'

There's really no-one in the UK to take action against

unless we stop them at this point.

'At Southampton Docks, Malcolm Thornton

'and his team from the City Council's Trading Standards division

'are acting on an anonymous tip-off that some potentially

'deadly dolls have been shipped in from the Far East.'

'And I've been allowed to join them

'as they investigate the suspect shipment.'

Oh, yeah.

This is one of our previous importers that we've had

the odd problem with, to say the least.

Wow, it's packed tight.

Absolutely, they don't waste space in these, space is money.

What's the strategy, then? How would you...?

I wouldn't know which box to look in.

We have got a packing list,

which gives us some idea of what's in there.

We'll get the chaps to tunnel in and try and get some different

code-numbered boxes to the ones that we can see here at the end.

OK, let's do it.

'With over a million crates like this arriving here every year,

'seeking out problem products can feel like

'looking for a needle in a haystack,

'so any inside information is a precious commodity.'

This is the strollers with the soft-headed doll.

'It's good news.

'This time, the tip-off was spot on.'

They use a plasticiser in there to make it soft and pliable,

and that plasticiser is potentially carcinogenic.

And, of course, if children lick them,

they're taking that chemical into their body,

so it can potentially cause cancer.

Years ago, it used to be heavy metals in the paint,

on painted cars and wooden toys,

but of course you get different types of products,

And this could just be a perfect gift

That pops out fairly easily. Yeah, the stuffing's coming out.

It's a big problem and people don't seem to be aware of it.

'This is scary stuff,

'but the carcinogens in the dolls aren't the only threat they carry,

'to see what other threats they pose to our kids.'

just tugged it lightly and the head came off.

That's interesting.

If the heads come off after a light pull there's a risk

that the hands and feet might also come off.

'there are a range of safety examinations that toys

'should be put through,

'some of which lab manager David Elks is performing today.'

It might sound a bit gruesome,

but we're going to put a clamp on to the eyelashes.

If the eyelashes come out then they would constitute a small part.

So the eye has split and we have at least one hair in the clamp.

We don't know whether they're made of something nasty or not,

and because they've come out they should be then subject to further

chemical testing to make sure they're entirely safe for the child.

'But it's not just dolly that is the problem.'

If your finger was in there, that would be quite a nasty nip.

Oh, yeah. That would definitely cut the skin.

So what should parents be looking out for

when they're buying toys?

Look out for the CE Mark, which is on the packaging.

Does that mean that's legitimate?

It should mean that the item has been tested

and complies to European norms.

If there's no CE Mark then walk away.

If there is a CE Mark, buy from a reputable retailer

and get hands-on, have a look and feel.

'These dolls carry a convincing looking CE Mark

'but, crucially, they're not being sold from reputable shops,

'so there's no way for any customer to know

'whether or not the mark has been forged.'

'If you do buy from a reputable retailer,

'there are other safety signs to look out for,

'like the Lion Mark that indicates the toy

'has been made by a member of the British Toy and Hobby Association,

'and age-appropriate grading symbols.'

David, would you have bought this toy for your children

when they were younger? Absolutely not.

There are too many things that just jump out at me as it's not quality.

Thanks to the tip-off, the dolls have been seized

and the importer will also have to pay for them to be destroyed.

In their experience, this is the most effective deterrent available

to Malcolm and his team, and I'll be back with them shortly

as they continue their hunt for potentially lethal goods.

Last year, 217 people died

in accidental household fires in the UK.

That's almost 50% more than the number

who lost their lives in accidents at work.

It's one of the biggest killers in British homes

but, despite that, there are millions of us

living without the protection of a working

or correctly located smoke alarm.

So we hit the streets to find out why.

When the battery runs low, they start to beep.

I'd kind of forgotten all about it.

I've just never thought about having a smoke alarm.

He actually burns the bacon and all of that.

For a little bit of inconvenience, a little bit of beeping

coming from the ceiling, you never have had one?

Why not get it sorted?

Just laziness, it's one of those things you've got to get round to.

Smoke alarms aren't really a big priority for a lot of us.

The truth is,

we just don't think a fire is likely to happen in our homes.

But, as father-of-two Martin from Kent knows,

fire can strike anyone at any time.

I live in a town house on three floors,

and I've been very, very happy here.

When Hannah and Ben, and my two children, and my wife, Deborah.

We had smoke alarms in the house.

We had one downstairs in the hallway

and one on the top floor landing,

but there wasn't one in the middle of the house,

there wasn't one on the first floor landing.

The fire started on the middle floor,

where all the entertainment systems were.

By the time the smoke had reached the top of the house,

which set the alarm off, the fire was then well under way.

I woke up to choking smoke.

Ran out onto the landing, shouting and screaming, "Fire, fire, fire."

I took one step on the stairs, absolutely no way

to go down the stairs, it was impossible.

It was just full of smoke.

It was a scene of panic.

My son and myself jumped out of the top floor window -

bearing in mind it's three storeys up -

Hannah jumped out of her window.

My wife could not get out.

Sorry.

If we'd had that other smoke alarm,

we would all have got out very safely.

Smoke alarms save people's lives. It is as simple as that.

Martin's right. But just having working smoke alarms isn't enough.

They also need to be in the right place,

and one homeowner who could do with some help

is mum-of-two Julie, who lives just outside Edinburgh.

A smoke alarm came down, maybe...

It must be over a year ago, anyway.

I think that it just fell down off the wall.

I don't think I ever think about fires happening

and, to be honest, when the fire alarm was up

it used to go off all the time,

whenever somebody made some toast or, you know...

It kind of seemed like a bit of a nuisance.

I suppose I am quite complacent,

I don't think it's going to burn down.

Julie's "it won't happen to me" attitude is common,

so to demonstrate the risks everyone who doesn't have a smoke alarm

is running, we've arranged for her to enter this special facility

at a state-of-the-art fire training centre.

The unit's used to replicate house fires

and it's the closest you can get to experiencing the real thing.

Julie, you're all kitted out. Yep.

How are you feeling about going in there?

A little bit apprehensive, yeah.

I don't know how hot it's going to be,

I don't know, you know...

how much smoke there'll be...

Or how you'll react? ..how I'll react, no.

Well, we can't keep you cos you've got a safety briefing,

and after that you'll be going inside, so good luck.

OK, thank you.

'The temperature in this unit can reach over 700 degrees Celsius,

'and it also produces killer toxic smoke.

'It's exactly what you'd face if there were a fire in your home.'

I think Julie will be quite surprised

at the type of environment that's going to be created.

Her natural instinct will be to get out of there,

but that's not really what we're there for.

We're there to keep her there, to expose her

to what actually happens within a real fire situation.

There's no telling how Julie will react to the extreme conditions

in the unit, but anyone without a working smoke alarm

in their home runs the risk of being confronted

by the incredible heat and deadly smoke she's about to experience.

What's happening?

The flames are starting to grow and it's producing smoke.

SPLUTTERING: ..which is the dangerous part.

Is that getting to your ready? I'm OK.

How hot will it be in there now?

At standing height you're talking maybe about 300 degrees.

At ceiling temperature you're talking about maybe 750 degrees.

Roughly about every half metre that you go up,

it goes up about 100 degrees.

With this smoke and the heat intensity -

we can feel the heat now and we're not even in there -

if this was in your house...

..it's just fatal.

That smoke's very toxic.

You become very disorientated very quickly, you stand up,

you take smoke particles in and that's how, really,

people don't really stand a chance.

'For the price of a call to your local fire service,

'who'll provide them for free, or just ?5 in the shops,

'smoke alarms can save us from the fire Julie is face-to-face with.

'But has this experience changed her "it won't happen to me" attitude

'that many of us have?'

We'll now take her helmet off and take her mask off.

Julie. Well done, you. Thank you.

How was it? Quite scary! Really? Yeah.

Can you describe what you were feeling in there,

in terms of the flames and the smoke and the darkness...?

It's quite surprising how quickly the smoke is above your head

and behind you and so on, so that's quite, you know,

a little bit alarming.

And then the heat builds and builds and builds,

and you do feel, you know, quite enclosed by it all.

Can we relate this experience to a fire started in our home?

If you were to open your bedroom door

and the fire was in the hall or another room,

ultimately, the first thing you're going to be met with

is that thick, black, toxic gas.

It's going to take away and starve all the oxygen within you

and the chances of survival are quite low.

Yeah.

The next time your smoke alarm comes off the ceiling

you're going to do what? Put it back up.

Yeah, with a battery.

And the next time you buy one...

I'm going to make sure there's a smoke alarm in the house working.

The Fire Service have made sure that Julie's smoke alarm

is fitted in the correct place.

It's good to have at least one on each level of your house

and your local Fire Service will visit for free

to make sure yours are working and in the right location.

But it's best to make sure fires don't break out in the first place

and, back at Southampton Docks, Malcolm Thornton and his team

are checking on a large shipment of electrical goods.

17,000 laptop chargers in here, apparently.

Some of them have got the model number written on.

So that's one of the little games you get into.

'Laptop chargers can be a deadly fire risk if not manufactured correctly.

we haven't seen this particular product before exactly.

It's got all the sort of markings on you would normally expect to see,

but, you know, people can copy things very easily

if they so desire.

If you were buying this product,

Because, for me, looking at that, that looks safe.

These are all packaged up ready to be delivered

directly to people's homes.

There's no market stall, non retailer.

Which is harder to make anyone accountable if anything goes wrong.

Absolutely. The only way we'll tell with these

is by looking at the internal workings of them.

It's worth having tested to see whether it is correct.

The chargers are getting sent to a test house in Southampton.

It's up to Safety Officer Richard Pote to decide

whether or not they're safe.

Straightaway, we can see there's this metal structure here,

which actually could provide a path for this hazardous

mains voltage on this side to come right through

and potentially get to the safe output, which is not what we want.

Not a good design.

But it's not just the internal workings of these chargers

that are a cause for concern.

We're actually going to have a look

at the flammability of this plastic.

This is part of the enclosure,

so what we're simulating here is that a component inside

has caught fire and we're just going to see how much that plastic burns.

What we don't want to see is all of the material being consumed,

lots of flames. That's bad news.

There's an international test standard which the casing must

pass to be deemed safe.

In short, if the tissue paper below catches fire

at any point during the test, the charger is unsafe

and the whole shipment will be seized by Malcolm and his team.

A few seconds in, and the casing seems to be withstanding the flame.

But then...

That is now well alight.

There is soot flying in the air,

so we do need to be a little bit careful.

This is actually now a failure.

Malcolm's suspicions about the chargers were right.

They'll be seized and, with a sales value of around ?100,000,

the importer will be hit hard.

To put this into perspective, if there was an electrical fault

and that ignited the plastic, the carpet is going to burn,

next thing you know you've got a house fire in your hands.

I wouldn't want to see these reach the marketplace and reach consumers.

'Thanks to the work of Malcolm and his team,

'these chargers won't be getting into any of our homes.

'Instead, they're sent to a recycling centre to be broken down

'and the parts sold on.'

Where will this go now? It will literally go back

to the manufacturing industry in China to make into a new product.

China are probably the biggest manufacturer of electrical gadgets that we consume within Europe.

So it's good to be making new products,

but we need to make sure they're safe. Of course.

'It's another result for Malcolm and the team.'

The seizure of the laptop chargers, for us,

that was an excellent day's work and, you know,

we hope we're allowed many more days like that in the future,

thereby preventing these unsafe goods

from getting into people's hands.

In the Scottish Highlands,

we're on the hunt for dangerous builder Norman Hughes.

He made a bit of a mess of my house. He's a complete no.

Don't go anywhere near the guy.

Whether it's a dangerous structure or whatever, he doesn't give a damn.

No regard for your safety. No, none at all.

Despite multiple complaints to Trading Standards,

Hughes has refused to meet with anyone

to discuss his trail of destruction.

'But we're not going to be fobbed off.

'We're going to make sure Roddy and Ewan's homes

'are left in a safe condition,

'and I'm going to capture Hughes on camera to see what he has to say.'

The one sure-fire way I have of meeting him face-to-face

is to offer him the opportunity of more work,

so that's exactly what we've got one of our team,

posing as a tenant, to do.

We've got all this damp coming in the back of our house.

We think there's a leak on the tiles.

Do you reckon you could pop round on Thursday?

Cheers, bye.

It's time to spring a How Safe Is Your House? trap.

We've got a house with a dodgy-looking roof...

a customer in the house to meet Hughes - hello again, tenant...

..and a whole load of hidden cameras, film crew

and a big Northern bloke wearing a rather fetching scarf

hiding in a darkened room, ready to try and get some answers.

House - check.

Tenant - check.

Hidden stuff - check.

Northern bloke - check.

Great scarf - well, I think so.

Now all we need is Fort William's most notorious and elusive builder.

And, right on cue, here he is.

the man whose work is so bad that Trading Standards

have slapped an Enforcement Order on him to try and put an end

to his substandard and hazardous work.

He's here, he's here.

KNOCKING

I'm here to see about the leak. Norman? Yeah. Nice to meet you.

Is it coming in there? No, it's round the back.

We're bringing him round the back because that's where I'm hiding

and that's where we'll spring our trap.

Did it take you long to get here? No, no.

Basically, what it is, we've got the tiling,

I don't know if it's the roof... The roof!

The tiles slipping, there are so many problems

we're just trying to get it all sorted

but our landlady lives nowhere near us, so it's a bit difficult.

'Time to move.'

Hello, Norman. Mark Clemmit, BBC Television.

Nice to catch up with you.

A lot of people would like to catch up with you.

Well, I think you are, actually, a lot of complaints

to Trading Standards about your shoddy and hazardous work.

I mean, why do you work a business like this?

Why do you do it?

It's what? A learning curve.

A learning curve? So do you admit you've made mistakes?

There's a great big list of people that are unhappy with you.

Why? I'm just not.

Don't do that, you're in enough trouble.

We're exposing your business for the shoddy workmanship it is

and you are assaulting my guy...

Sorry, are you threatening me? Yes.

You're threatening me? Yes. You are threatening me?

Well, there he goes. Norman...

Oh, charming(!)

This is Norman Hughes, running away.

Oh, that's a big, mature gesture, isn't it?

No shame, no remorse, no thought for any of the people

whose homes he's left in a dangerous state

but for now, at least, captured on camera and clearly identified.

Norman Hughes advertises as Caledonian Roofing And Building,

Hughes Paving Services,

Hughes Roofing And Building Services

and West Coast Building Services.

Since we found him,

Trading Standards have received more complaints about him.

If they find he's broken his Enforcement Order

it could mean a fine or prison.