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Hello, and welcome to Watchdog Daily. We're with you live for the | :00:30. | :00:34. | |
next 45 minutes. This morning: Flight delayed? A new rule means | :00:34. | :00:38. | |
you should get compensation. But will the airlines pay out? | :00:38. | :00:41. | |
Costa, Starbucks, Cafe Nero. Coffee to go or drinking inside? You'll be | :00:41. | :00:45. | |
surprised who gets the best deal. And Christmas toys bound for the UK. | :00:45. | :00:53. | |
The Consumer Cops clamp down on dangerous imports. | :00:53. | :00:59. | |
First, Thomas Cook and Monarch. Like all airlines, they're bound by | :00:59. | :01:02. | |
EU regulations that say they should compensate you if your flight is | :01:02. | :01:04. | |
cancelled or overbooked. Well, following a court judgment last | :01:04. | :01:07. | |
month, you're now also entitled to a payout if your flight is held up | :01:07. | :01:12. | |
for more than three hours. And, as that rule applies retrospectively, | :01:12. | :01:16. | |
it affects delayed flights going back seven years. But just because | :01:16. | :01:22. | |
the airlines are legally obliged to pay, it doesn't mean they will. | :01:22. | :01:30. | |
Here's Rani. With millions of flights landing in | :01:30. | :01:35. | |
the UK every day, there are bound to be some hitches. That is why the | :01:35. | :01:40. | |
EU brought in those regulations to protect passengers. One regulation | :01:40. | :01:47. | |
in particular. The rule called EU 261 was introduced in 2004 to | :01:47. | :01:51. | |
guarantee customers travelling within Europe, or into Europe, | :01:51. | :01:56. | |
protection against delays, cancellations. The intention was to | :01:56. | :01:59. | |
make sure that everybody got the same protection. Some airlines | :01:59. | :02:05. | |
don't always follow these rules leaving passengers frustrated at | :02:05. | :02:12. | |
best, out-of-pocket at worst. First up, delays. Noel and Marie Scotland | :02:13. | :02:17. | |
were due to fly out to Corfu in August. A 24-hour delay meant they | :02:18. | :02:22. | |
spent the first day of their holiday at the airport rather than | :02:22. | :02:26. | |
the beach. We were rather annoyed about that. You can cope with | :02:26. | :02:30. | |
delays. We have been travelling to Greece for over 30 years. We waited | :02:30. | :02:35. | |
around for two hours. Then they decided to put us in a hotel. I was | :02:35. | :02:41. | |
made up then, thinking we have somewhere to rest. The hotel stay | :02:41. | :02:46. | |
didn't last long. After just six hours, the airline said it was time | :02:46. | :02:50. | |
to move. After we left the hotel, we thought we were going to fly off | :02:50. | :02:53. | |
and we discovered there was still a further delay. We thought we would | :02:53. | :02:57. | |
be sent back to the hotel which was not the case. Under the rules, the | :02:57. | :03:01. | |
couple should have been given food and accommodation. The | :03:01. | :03:07. | |
accommodation provided by Small Planet Airlines, the airport | :03:07. | :03:10. | |
departure lounge. We were left all night at the airport. There were | :03:10. | :03:14. | |
only four blankets between all of the passengers, so that went to the | :03:14. | :03:19. | |
children and the elderly. Yeah. didn't get a blanket or a pillow. | :03:19. | :03:23. | |
They didn't receive any compensation for the delay either. | :03:23. | :03:28. | |
According to EU rules at the time, they weren't entitled to any. Now | :03:28. | :03:33. | |
they are. The recent court ruling means any passenger can get at | :03:33. | :03:37. | |
least 250 euros if their flight is held up for more than three hours. | :03:37. | :03:44. | |
That applies to delayed flights going back seven years. So what | :03:44. | :03:51. | |
about passengers whose flights don't take off at all? Robert Evans | :03:51. | :03:56. | |
and Melissa Taylor were booked on a Thomas Cook flight from Tenerife to | :03:56. | :04:02. | |
Bristol. We were told we had a nine-hour delay. So we checked our | :04:02. | :04:07. | |
luggage in. Then we got given a voucher for food. A good few hours | :04:07. | :04:15. | |
later, they said the plane was due to land at 10.00pm. Great. Then it | :04:15. | :04:20. | |
was on the screen it was cancelled. Remember those EU rules? If your | :04:20. | :04:24. | |
flight is cancelled, you have an automatic right to food, | :04:24. | :04:29. | |
accommodation and upwards of 250 euros in compensation unless there | :04:29. | :04:34. | |
are extraordinary circumstances. Thomas Cook offered no compensation. | :04:34. | :04:38. | |
And even though they flew out the couple the next morning, on a | :04:38. | :04:43. | |
different plane, to a different airport, they classed this as a | :04:43. | :04:49. | |
delay rather than a cancellation. What's more, they didn't even offer | :04:49. | :04:52. | |
them overnight accommodation. thought that was unfair. We had | :04:52. | :04:59. | |
been out of the room since 12.00pm, so we had nowhere to wash, change, | :04:59. | :05:06. | |
and we were sleeping on the floor and on the chairs in the airport. | :05:06. | :05:16. | |
:05:16. | :05:17. | ||
So that's delays and cancellations. Next on the list - denied boarding. | :05:17. | :05:23. | |
This is the moment that newlywed Ray and Selina Mellon were | :05:23. | :05:29. | |
prevented from getting on their Monarch flight back to Manchester. | :05:29. | :05:33. | |
As the earlier rows got called to board, there was a rush of people | :05:33. | :05:38. | |
to the gate. It turns out that these people were from a previous | :05:38. | :05:41. | |
flight who had been delayed 24 hours. These people were trying to | :05:41. | :05:45. | |
get on the plane that was allocated to us. The ground staff initially | :05:45. | :05:50. | |
said that this wouldn't happen. Five minutes later, after a lot of | :05:50. | :05:54. | |
to-ing and fro-ing, that is what they did. They gave our flight away | :05:54. | :05:57. | |
and put the delayed passengers on our plane. The couple, along with | :05:58. | :06:03. | |
their fellow travellers, had to wait for 16 hours at a hotel before | :06:03. | :06:07. | |
they could fly home. Monarch blamed the delay on technical problems. | :06:07. | :06:12. | |
That was strange because the couple had watched the plane take off | :06:12. | :06:15. | |
filled with the angry passengers whose earlier flight had been | :06:15. | :06:19. | |
delayed. If your flight is there and you are about to board, and | :06:19. | :06:26. | |
they choose to put the delayed passengers on in front of you, you | :06:26. | :06:36. | |
:06:36. | :06:36. | ||
are entitled to compensation. insisted their flight had been | :06:36. | :06:40. | |
delayed and they had not been denied boarding. Understandably | :06:40. | :06:48. | |
angry. It's tarnished the end and their service has been left wanting. | :06:48. | :06:55. | |
Although there are EU rules to protect passengers. There are none | :06:55. | :07:01. | |
for those whose luggage is last. If yours is one of the six million | :07:01. | :07:05. | |
bags airlines mislay every year, there is another rule. It is called | :07:05. | :07:10. | |
the Montreal Convention. It means if your carrier loses your bag, you | :07:10. | :07:15. | |
are entitled to compensation of up to �1,000. Perhaps someone needs to | :07:16. | :07:21. | |
tell Jet Airways. Anika Duggal flew with them in December 2011. We were | :07:21. | :07:26. | |
going to India to visit our family. There was a family gathering. | :07:26. | :07:30. | |
now 11 months since she checked in her suitcase. She has not seen it | :07:30. | :07:34. | |
since. When we got there, we were told that one of our pieces of | :07:34. | :07:37. | |
luggage was still in London. Then after three days, we found out that | :07:37. | :07:42. | |
wasn't the case and it was missing. We spent many hours of our holiday | :07:42. | :07:45. | |
trying to contact Jet Airways on the phone. It was a lot of time | :07:45. | :07:52. | |
spent when I could have been enjoying myself. Time as well as | :07:52. | :07:56. | |
money. Despite her suitcase containing goods worth a lot more, | :07:56. | :08:02. | |
all Jet Airways offered was �135. Half of the compensation they had | :08:02. | :08:08. | |
offered us would cover the suitcase alone let alone the contents inside | :08:08. | :08:16. | |
the suitcase. They haven't paid us despite chasing them up. They | :08:16. | :08:20. | |
ignore us. Providing the customer can show the value of her property, | :08:20. | :08:30. | |
she should be able to make a valid claim. | :08:30. | :08:33. | |
Before that, let's hear what the companies named in the report have | :08:33. | :08:37. | |
to say. Rani. Well, firstly, Jet Airways, who | :08:37. | :08:42. | |
lost that bag belonging to Anika Duggal. It says it did provide her | :08:42. | :08:45. | |
with regular updates and, in the absence of supporting receipts or | :08:45. | :08:47. | |
bills, offered suitable compensation which she agreed to. | :08:47. | :08:50. | |
However, it's apologised for the delay in settling that sum so is | :08:50. | :08:53. | |
paying more as a goodwill gesture. It's sent her a cheque for �212 | :08:53. | :08:58. | |
this week. Small Planet Airlines says the | :08:58. | :09:01. | |
delay on their Manchester to Corfu flight back in August was caused by | :09:01. | :09:06. | |
aircraft safety shortcomings. It's sincerely apologised to all | :09:06. | :09:08. | |
passengers, including Noel and Marie Scotland. It says it told | :09:08. | :09:12. | |
them of their rights in the case of a flight delay, and offered free | :09:12. | :09:15. | |
meals and hotel accommodation. The passengers were transferred back to | :09:15. | :09:21. | |
the airport due to the updated time of the departure. | :09:21. | :09:24. | |
Thomas Cook says Robert and Melissa Taylor's flight was disrupted due | :09:24. | :09:26. | |
to extraordinary circumstances beyond its control - a combination | :09:26. | :09:28. | |
of unforeseen aircraft maintenance problems, and a passenger being | :09:28. | :09:37. | |
taken ill. It's apologised. But, although the plane left on a | :09:37. | :09:39. | |
different day, bound for a different airport, it maintains | :09:39. | :09:43. | |
this was a delay - not a cancellation. However, they have | :09:43. | :09:47. | |
now agreed to pay him �100 to cover his expenses. | :09:47. | :09:52. | |
Finally, Monarch. It now agrees that the plane that was supposed to | :09:52. | :09:55. | |
bring Ray and Selina Mellon back from Cyprus was instead used to | :09:55. | :10:00. | |
carry passengers booked on an earlier, delayed flight. It now | :10:00. | :10:04. | |
accepts that this was a case of denied boarding. It's apologised | :10:04. | :10:07. | |
for the inconvenience and distress this caused at the end of their | :10:07. | :10:11. | |
honeymoon. And has now paid them the sterling equivalent of 800 | :10:11. | :10:17. | |
euros in compensation. Good news! Meanwhile, if you'd like to comment | :10:17. | :10:20. | |
on that, or any other of today's stories, here's a reminder of how | :10:20. | :10:24. | |
to do so. To send an email, the address is [email protected]. | :10:24. | :10:27. | |
If you'd prefer to send a text, just dial 88822 and start your | :10:27. | :10:30. | |
message with the letters "WD". And if you want to join the | :10:30. | :10:33. | |
discussion on Twitter, our address and hashtag are on your screens. | :10:33. | :10:37. | |
Thanks, Rani. Earlier this week, we showed the | :10:37. | :10:40. | |
Consumer Cops in Wales and the South West seizing goods that put | :10:40. | :10:42. | |
buyers in danger. One product could even cause electrocution. Today, | :10:42. | :10:45. | |
we're going further south, to show how they're tackling the problem of | :10:45. | :10:50. | |
unsafe imports at source. Here's Rhodri Owen. | :10:51. | :10:55. | |
Yes, welcome to Southampton. This hi-tech container port is one of | :10:55. | :11:00. | |
the biggest in the UK, handling more than 40 million tonnes of | :11:00. | :11:05. | |
cargo every year. Among the cars, food and electronics, there are | :11:05. | :11:15. | |
:11:15. | :11:20. | ||
It's Monday morning at the port, where a ship from Hong Kong has | :11:20. | :11:30. | |
:11:30. | :11:31. | ||
docked during the early hours. On board, there are 509 containers. | :11:31. | :11:35. | |
These men have the job of ensuring everything inside them is | :11:35. | :11:40. | |
legitimate. Anybody who is doing the work at points of entry, that | :11:40. | :11:44. | |
is the first line of defence into the country. What we don't want to | :11:44. | :11:48. | |
do is we don't want to be stopping stuff once it is on the market and | :11:48. | :11:52. | |
particularly perhaps once somebody has been scruered. If we can stop | :11:52. | :11:56. | |
it -- injured. If we can stop it at the point of entry, that is the | :11:56. | :12:00. | |
ideal situation. Since April, the team have examined more than 50 | :12:00. | :12:05. | |
containers, finding 42 products that later failed safety tests. | :12:05. | :12:09. | |
Today, intelligence reports lead them to identify two containers | :12:09. | :12:15. | |
believed to be holding dangerous goods. Inspecting all the contents | :12:15. | :12:19. | |
is a huge task. To make it more manageable, they have asked the | :12:19. | :12:25. | |
importers to provide a list of everything inside. What do we | :12:25. | :12:32. | |
reckon is in here? Anything exciting? Oh. We have a packing | :12:32. | :12:41. | |
list for this. 60 products, is it? 57 different products. OK. We will | :12:41. | :12:48. | |
dig a few out and have a look. Not quite sure where we will start, | :12:48. | :12:54. | |
mind you! With Christmas approaching, the officers are | :12:54. | :12:58. | |
keeping a keen eye out for potentially dangerous toys and | :12:58. | :13:02. | |
children's products. And as soon as the inspection starts, they find | :13:02. | :13:12. | |
:13:12. | :13:16. | ||
one. LAUGHTER We know these! This is obviously a little kid's toy, | :13:16. | :13:19. | |
chair, whatever you want to call it. The problem we have had with these | :13:19. | :13:23. | |
in the past is that the feet come off relatively easily and then you | :13:23. | :13:31. | |
have got on some of them sharp edges. They are a potential hazard. | :13:31. | :13:36. | |
The plastic cap... That is a potential choking hazard for young | :13:36. | :13:41. | |
children. We won't be allowing that to go on into the marketplace so we | :13:41. | :13:47. | |
will stop that being transported off and ending up in the shops. | :13:47. | :13:51. | |
This early discovery suggests the intelligence they are working on is | :13:51. | :14:01. | |
:14:01. | :14:01. | ||
correct. Closer investigations are now required. 180 miles away, | :14:01. | :14:05. | |
another team of officers are conducting a similar operation to | :14:05. | :14:13. | |
Malcolm and Lawrence. Felixstowe on the Suffolk coast is the country's | :14:13. | :14:19. | |
busiest container port with 4,000 ships loading and unloading each | :14:19. | :14:29. | |
:14:29. | :14:30. | ||
year. It handles more than a third of the UK's sea borne trade. | :14:30. | :14:35. | |
With these two that we are looking at today, we have one which is a | :14:35. | :14:39. | |
bit of a mixed history. They have had some items that have past, they | :14:39. | :14:43. | |
have had some that have failed. The items are very cheap. They have | :14:44. | :14:48. | |
come from China. So we are going to have a look to see what it is that | :14:48. | :14:54. | |
they have brought in. With the help of Port Authoritys, the Felixstowe | :14:54. | :14:57. | |
Trading Standards officer has organised an inspection of some of | :14:57. | :15:07. | |
:15:07. | :15:13. | ||
the suspect containers. It is those two that I'm most interested in. | :15:13. | :15:21. | |
It's actually a musical trumpet by the looks of it. From a company we | :15:21. | :15:25. | |
have seen before that we know have been advised on their labelling. | :15:25. | :15:30. | |
Straightaway, I can see that it is not labelled correctly. It has not | :15:30. | :15:33. | |
got any of the manufacturing or importer details on them. So we | :15:34. | :15:42. | |
will be taking this one. Next, a children's toy police kit. It's | :15:42. | :15:45. | |
particularly concerning as a similar product has already failed | :15:45. | :15:52. | |
safety tests. Yeah. So this is what we were expecting. This is a police | :15:52. | :15:58. | |
set. We have two different types. Straightaway, we would have | :15:58. | :16:03. | |
concerns with this one because the plastic is quite soft. So we would | :16:03. | :16:12. | |
be looking at having that tested for a toxin. And looks like we have | :16:12. | :16:16. | |
some possible bits that would fall off there which could be a choking | :16:16. | :16:22. | |
hazard. The products will undergo safety checks. These must be | :16:22. | :16:25. | |
carried out quickly as all the goods are due to be distributed | :16:25. | :16:35. | |
:16:35. | :16:38. | ||
I have examined two of the containers. 61, that can be | :16:38. | :16:42. | |
released. 62, I want to keep on hold for another few hours while we | :16:42. | :16:48. | |
test it back at the office. And we'll show you the results of | :16:48. | :16:52. | |
that test later. Now, Starbucks, Costa and Cafe Nero. | :16:52. | :16:55. | |
Making millions each year providing us with our daily cup of coffee. | :16:55. | :16:59. | |
Some of us like to drink in. Others prefer to get their caffeine hit on | :16:59. | :17:05. | |
the move. But just before you make up your mind completely, there's | :17:05. | :17:15. | |
:17:15. | :17:21. | ||
something our mystery shoppers would like you to know. We spend a | :17:21. | :17:24. | |
staggering �1.3 billion in coffee shops every year with two-thirds | :17:24. | :17:28. | |
buying hot drinks when we are out and about. It is that demand that's | :17:28. | :17:32. | |
fuelled the explosion of coffee chains on our High Streets. This | :17:32. | :17:37. | |
man loves his coffee. When he decided to have his morning cup | :17:37. | :17:40. | |
inside his local Starbucks rather than take it away, he discovered | :17:41. | :17:47. | |
something sneaky going on. noticed that if you sit in, where | :17:47. | :17:53. | |
you would be paying the same price as you would to take a drink out, | :17:53. | :17:57. | |
you always get less when you buy a drink to sit in. Given the price is | :17:57. | :18:03. | |
already quite expensive, I would really would expect that the size | :18:03. | :18:08. | |
should be the same whether I sit in or take out. It should be the same. | :18:08. | :18:13. | |
Same shop, same price, smaller amount just for opting to drink in. | :18:13. | :18:18. | |
Was that a stingy member of staff or company policy? Are the other | :18:18. | :18:24. | |
chains up to similar tricks? Time for the team to hit the road. Over | :18:24. | :18:32. | |
two days our shoppers visited two branches of Costa, Starbucks and | :18:32. | :18:42. | |
:18:42. | :18:42. | ||
Cafe Nero. One got takeaway, the other ordered to drink in, but | :18:42. | :18:46. | |
poured the contents into takeaway cups once they bought them. The | :18:46. | :18:52. | |
cups were taken straight to the Watchdog Daily measuring mobile, | :18:52. | :18:57. | |
which was parked around the corner. The contents were measured to see | :18:57. | :19:04. | |
if one did contain more coffee. First, the UK's biggest coffee | :19:04. | :19:10. | |
chain, Costa. They cost the same to take away and to drink in, but | :19:10. | :19:15. | |
would they measure the same? In both stores, we were given less | :19:15. | :19:25. | |
:19:25. | :19:34. | ||
Next, the lattes. Milky. Let's have a look. Again, in both stores, they | :19:34. | :19:44. | |
:19:44. | :19:44. | ||
were smaller drinking in. So, in both the Costas, our drink- | :19:44. | :19:50. | |
in coffees were smaller than the take-out drinks. A small one. | :19:50. | :19:54. | |
What about Starbucks, the second largest chain in the UK? Again, | :19:54. | :19:58. | |
both the drink-in and the takeaway coffees cost the same. Would we get | :19:58. | :20:08. | |
the same amount of coffee in each cup? In one branch, they were the | :20:08. | :20:14. | |
same size. But in the other branch, there was | :20:14. | :20:24. | |
:20:24. | :20:27. | ||
So in Starbucks, you could end up with a lot less for your money, but | :20:27. | :20:32. | |
it might depend on which branch you visit. If you are thinking you | :20:32. | :20:36. | |
received less coffee simply as a surcharge for drinking in, think | :20:36. | :20:40. | |
again. Cafe Nero charge up to 10p extra for drinking in. They say it | :20:40. | :20:45. | |
is to cover VAT. As we discovered, they still give you less coffee. | :20:45. | :20:55. | |
:20:55. | :20:55. | ||
How much less? In the first branch, to drink, it was smaller. In the | :20:55. | :21:02. | |
second branch, they were both smaller. What do other coffee | :21:02. | :21:06. | |
drinkers think? I didn't know. I thought that they were all the same | :21:06. | :21:10. | |
sizes, whether you eat in or take away. Medium is a medium. Not fair. | :21:10. | :21:14. | |
I don't think it is right. You are paying more money, so you should be | :21:14. | :21:18. | |
getting the same amount whether you are drinking in or taking it away. | :21:18. | :21:25. | |
You shouldn't have to be penalised for drinking in. So if you are like | :21:25. | :21:33. | |
me and love your coffee, wherever possible get it in a take-out cup! | :21:33. | :21:41. | |
I knew there was a reason! How do the companies explain it? | :21:41. | :21:44. | |
Well, firstly, Starbucks says it has 760 UK stores so you can't draw | :21:44. | :21:47. | |
absolute conclusions from our comparison of two drinks from just | :21:47. | :21:51. | |
a couple of them. It says the size of its drinks - whether to have in- | :21:51. | :21:55. | |
store or take-away - are consistent. But, as they're handmade, there may | :21:55. | :21:58. | |
at times be small variances in the amount of liquid in the cup. Costa | :21:58. | :22:01. | |
told us its recyclable cups are made to an industry standard. It | :22:01. | :22:04. | |
does acknowledge slight differences by ensuring its brand standard | :22:04. | :22:07. | |
recipes take into account the cup size when it comes to the amount of | :22:07. | :22:12. | |
milk and coffee used. This means customers enjoy the same taste, | :22:12. | :22:16. | |
whether they stay in store or take their drink with them. | :22:16. | :22:23. | |
As for Cafe Nero? It says there are two different customer experiences. | :22:23. | :22:26. | |
The different pricing is based on the added value associated with | :22:26. | :22:29. | |
enjoying a drink in store - where customers can stay throughout the | :22:29. | :22:32. | |
day, and where there are newspapers, free Wi-Fi, music and comfortable | :22:32. | :22:36. | |
furniture. It says this differential pricing is common | :22:36. | :22:41. | |
practice not only throughout the UK but in many European countries. | :22:41. | :22:45. | |
Next, dangerous toys, clothes and children's equipment. Our cameras | :22:45. | :22:48. | |
are with the Consumer Cops trying to stop them being imported into | :22:48. | :22:51. | |
the UK, then distributed to shops and markets around the country. | :22:51. | :22:55. | |
It's a massive task, especially at this time of the year. Let's re- | :22:55. | :23:03. | |
join Rhodri. In Southampton, Christmas has come | :23:03. | :23:13. | |
:23:13. | :23:14. | ||
early formal come and Lawrence. They are mid-way unpacking a | :23:14. | :23:20. | |
container full of toys. Let's have a look in here. What is that one | :23:20. | :23:28. | |
there? They have the hole for the screw, but they haven't put it in! | :23:28. | :23:32. | |
The battery compartment, you have to make it childproof. This has | :23:32. | :23:36. | |
been made to take a screw so that you can't get the battery | :23:36. | :23:39. | |
compartment open without the screw, but they haven't bothered to put | :23:39. | :23:46. | |
the screw in. So potentially access to the batteries, choking hazard. | :23:46. | :23:52. | |
People can swallow them. Not a great idea. As well as the missing | :23:52. | :24:02. | |
:24:02. | :24:03. | ||
screws, this also causes concern. don't know how securely these - not | :24:03. | :24:08. | |
very. You have a small LED there. There is an eye. Doesn't take a | :24:08. | :24:12. | |
huge amount of strength. That is potentially getting into the hands | :24:12. | :24:18. | |
of anyone from the age of a baby upwards, really. Next, the officers | :24:18. | :24:22. | |
find a set of dolls in the container. Once again, there are | :24:22. | :24:30. | |
problems. The quality of the - it is not a skin, it is glorified | :24:30. | :24:35. | |
paper. You can - I don't know whether - some of these will - this | :24:35. | :24:42. | |
is a bit better made. That's the sort of paper that crime scene | :24:42. | :24:49. | |
suits are made out of. In the past, they have pulled apart very easily! | :24:49. | :24:52. | |
LAUGHTER That is a potential choking hazard for children. So not | :24:52. | :24:57. | |
particularly scientific, you can see what happens. It's the sort of | :24:57. | :25:00. | |
thing which will encourage us to think we will have that tested. | :25:01. | :25:07. | |
Yeah. One doll looks similar to others that have failed a previous | :25:07. | :25:11. | |
test due to the plastics leaking chemicals. Another contains small | :25:11. | :25:15. | |
parts which could pose another choking hazard. As you can see, we | :25:15. | :25:19. | |
could be here all day on this one container. We will finish on this | :25:19. | :25:24. | |
and have a look at another one. next container holds one design of | :25:24. | :25:30. | |
doll they are concerned about. But there are lots of them! That is a | :25:30. | :25:34. | |
good example of stuff to the gunnels! LAUGHTER They will now be | :25:34. | :25:44. | |
:25:44. | :25:46. | ||
testing this doll for moveable parts and flamability. Back in | :25:46. | :25:52. | |
Felixstowe, Sasha is preparing to carry out a container inspection, | :25:52. | :25:58. | |
her second of the morning. Brilliant. Is it all the same | :25:58. | :26:02. | |
consignment? Yes. Brilliant. Again, she's acting on intelligence she's | :26:02. | :26:09. | |
received about the importer. It's a mixed consignment of a variety of | :26:09. | :26:14. | |
items from bottle openers, to fans, to camera straps. So we are going | :26:14. | :26:18. | |
to look out for a number of items we have interest in because of | :26:18. | :26:22. | |
previous failures with this company. It is a slow process. Initially, | :26:22. | :26:32. | |
:26:32. | :26:33. | ||
everything in the container appears safe and labelled correctly. | :26:33. | :26:38. | |
Concerns soon surface. She is particularly worried about a | :26:38. | :26:44. | |
product packed amongst the electrical items. The documentation | :26:44. | :26:49. | |
says it's just bladeless fans in here. None of these would look like | :26:49. | :26:55. | |
they would be such. Ly open one of these bags. It is not a fan -- I | :26:55. | :27:02. | |
will open one of these bags. It is not a fan because it is soft. It is | :27:02. | :27:08. | |
an inflatable boat? It doesn't have any correct warnings on it. There | :27:08. | :27:16. | |
is an issue whether it is a device to assist with swimming, or whether | :27:16. | :27:22. | |
it is a toy. I would say the fact that it looks like it's a boat with | :27:22. | :27:28. | |
a steering wheel and a horn, it is more likely to be a toy so it would | :27:28. | :27:33. | |
come under toy safety legislation. So we will take that one to get | :27:33. | :27:40. | |
that looked at by the lab that do our testing for us. Here is one of | :27:40. | :27:50. | |
:27:50. | :27:51. | ||
those safety tests. You can see more of those tests later on. | :27:51. | :27:54. | |
Now, earlier we reported on the EU regulations that allow airline | :27:54. | :27:57. | |
passengers to claim compensation if their flight is cancelled. And the | :27:57. | :28:00. | |
new rule that entitles you to a payout if your plane's delayed by | :28:00. | :28:03. | |
more than three hours. Well, joining me now is Iain Osborne from | :28:03. | :28:05. | |
the Civil Aviation Authority. Is this going to open the floodgates | :28:05. | :28:08. | |
because you can claim retrospectively? You can. We are | :28:09. | :28:13. | |
pleased that the court case has clarified the law for people. I | :28:13. | :28:17. | |
think people often are confused about their rights. If people go to | :28:17. | :28:20. | |
our website, there is a really clear statement there about what | :28:20. | :28:24. | |
people are entitle to. They should, if they have had a bad experience, | :28:24. | :28:28. | |
take it up with the airline. If they don't get their rights, we | :28:28. | :28:32. | |
will take it up for them free of charge. When you are talking about | :28:32. | :28:35. | |
flights that date back seven years, it will be hard for people to prove | :28:35. | :28:41. | |
that they have had problems? That is true. People will need to have | :28:41. | :28:45. | |
documents. As your package made clear, if there are extraordinary | :28:45. | :28:50. | |
circumstances, it is not the air lain's fault, compensation isn't | :28:50. | :28:54. | |
payable and quite often that is true. We see airlines getting this | :28:54. | :29:01. | |
wrong. It is not all airlines. It is EU airlines leaving EU airports? | :29:01. | :29:05. | |
If you are flying out of an EU airport, you have these rights. If | :29:05. | :29:09. | |
you are flying into the EU, you have them if you are on a EU | :29:09. | :29:15. | |
carrier. It could cost the airlines a huge amount of money? As I say, | :29:15. | :29:18. | |
if there are extraordinary circumstances, they don't have to | :29:18. | :29:23. | |
pay. The law, this law has been in place since 2005. The airlines have | :29:23. | :29:28. | |
had lots of opportunity to get used to it. The main thing is that | :29:28. | :29:32. | |
passengers are perhaps still not familiar with their rights and we | :29:32. | :29:37. | |
are keen that people use our website or talk to the airline | :29:37. | :29:41. | |
themselves. Get clear about your rights. This is part of what you | :29:41. | :29:46. | |
are paying for when you buy a ticket. If the airlines have to | :29:46. | :29:51. | |
fork out money, they will say the passengers will pay? We talk to | :29:51. | :29:54. | |
airlines a lot about how they set their charges. They tell us prices | :29:54. | :29:58. | |
are set relative to what people can pay, not relative to their own | :29:58. | :30:01. | |
costs. No, I don't think that is likely. If anybody wants to know | :30:01. | :30:05. | |
what to do, even if this is a flight that dates back several | :30:05. | :30:08. | |
years, they can look at your website? The rights are complex, | :30:09. | :30:14. | |
but it sets it out really clearly. If you don't get satisfaction from | :30:14. | :30:18. | |
your airline, I have a team that can take up cases for people. The | :30:18. | :30:22. | |
airlines don't always get it right. If you think you have been | :30:22. | :30:26. | |
mistreated, bring the case to us. suspect you might be busy now! | :30:26. | :30:33. | |
Thank you very much. Let's go to Rani now. | :30:33. | :30:37. | |
Thanks, Sophie. Now, that story about the price differences in | :30:37. | :30:40. | |
coffee bars has got you going. We'll have some of your many | :30:40. | :30:42. | |
comments later. But we're also still getting | :30:42. | :30:44. | |
messages about yesterday's report on returning faulty goods. Lots of | :30:44. | :30:48. | |
viewers are asking us what they can do if they receive a service that | :30:48. | :30:52. | |
isn't up to scratch. Well, we can answer that, or at least our expert | :30:52. | :31:02. | |
:31:02. | :31:07. | ||
Is there anything more annoying than when you have been promised a | :31:07. | :31:11. | |
service only to end up disappointed with the end result? There are | :31:11. | :31:16. | |
several sets of regulations that can help us out. Unfortunately, | :31:16. | :31:20. | |
given the wide range of services available, the legislation is far | :31:20. | :31:28. | |
more fragmented than if you are buying goods. The major piece of | :31:28. | :31:36. | |
legislation is the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982. This | :31:36. | :31:40. | |
requires the trader uses reasonable care and still and any goods | :31:40. | :31:44. | |
provided must be of a satisfactory quality, fit for the purpose and | :31:44. | :31:47. | |
comply with description. It also states that where no specific date | :31:47. | :31:52. | |
has been agreed for completion of the service, it must be done within | :31:52. | :31:59. | |
reasonable time. One common example that I hear is that of poorly- | :31:59. | :32:02. | |
fitting double glazing. You are paying for the service of having | :32:02. | :32:06. | |
the glazing installed but also for the windows themselves. Another | :32:06. | :32:10. | |
common example is taking your car into have it repaired. If you take | :32:10. | :32:13. | |
your car in with the reasonable belief that it is going to take two | :32:13. | :32:17. | |
days to do the job and the garage takes three weeks, then the trader | :32:17. | :32:21. | |
has breached the requirement for reasonable time. If when you get | :32:21. | :32:25. | |
the car back, the job has not been done properly, he will also have | :32:25. | :32:29. | |
breached the requirement for reasonable care and skill. So what | :32:29. | :32:33. | |
about your rights when it comes to mobile phones? If your handset is | :32:33. | :32:36. | |
faulty, you should take it back to the company from which you bought | :32:36. | :32:43. | |
it for a repair or replacement. It is always worth asking if you can | :32:43. | :32:47. | |
borrow a phone temporarily while yours is being repaired. If your | :32:47. | :32:53. | |
network coverage is poor, you should contact your network | :32:53. | :32:57. | |
provider. And check the terms and conditions of your contract to see | :32:57. | :33:01. | |
if it makes promises about network coverage. If your contract has been | :33:01. | :33:06. | |
broken, you have a right to cancel it without penalty. If your problem | :33:06. | :33:09. | |
is restricted to a specific building, such as your house, then | :33:09. | :33:12. | |
it is going to be far more difficult to argue. Even if there | :33:13. | :33:17. | |
is nothing specific in your written contract, if a salesman has led you | :33:17. | :33:20. | |
to believe you will get a good quality signal where you live and | :33:20. | :33:24. | |
you get no signal at all, you may have a claim of misrepresentation. | :33:24. | :33:28. | |
While as in every other part of contract law something that has | :33:28. | :33:32. | |
been said is every bit as legally- enforceable as something that's | :33:32. | :33:36. | |
been written down, in practice it is a great deal more difficult to | :33:36. | :33:42. | |
prove. She knows her stuff! | :33:42. | :33:45. | |
For more information on how to complain if a service isn't up to | :33:45. | :33:48. | |
scratch, see our website. The address is bbc.co.uk/watchdog. | :33:48. | :33:51. | |
Time for our last visits to two of the UK's largest container ports | :33:51. | :33:53. | |
now where the Consumer Cops have been seizing potentially dangerous | :33:53. | :33:56. | |
products. Those goods were due to be moved from Southampton and | :33:56. | :34:00. | |
Felixstowe, and then distributed across the whole of the UK. But | :34:00. | :34:02. | |
right now they must undergo stringent safety tests. Here's | :34:02. | :34:10. | |
Rhodri. The Southampton seizures have | :34:10. | :34:13. | |
resulted in six different toys all due to be sold in the run-up to | :34:13. | :34:17. | |
Christmas being sent for safety analysis. Until this is complete, | :34:17. | :34:25. | |
all the goods must be held at the docks. The lab's based 20 miles | :34:25. | :34:30. | |
away in Portsmouth. It is important that officers organise the tests as | :34:30. | :34:36. | |
soon as they can. We are seizing and detaining somebody else's | :34:36. | :34:39. | |
property so it's important from the whole point of view of trade and | :34:39. | :34:45. | |
economy that we don't hold goods up unnecessarily for too long. In fact, | :34:45. | :34:49. | |
Malcolm has 48 hours to get all the samples tested. He can then tell | :34:49. | :34:53. | |
the importer if he will be holding on to the container, or releasing | :34:53. | :35:02. | |
it. Sasha is about to send off her seized consignment for testing. She | :35:02. | :35:07. | |
already has a good idea what the results will be. Especially those | :35:07. | :35:13. | |
concerning the parts inside this child's police toy. With the gun, | :35:13. | :35:19. | |
the gun looks like it's for use with the darts. The darts enter | :35:19. | :35:27. | |
into the top of the gun and you can shoot out. This will get tested | :35:27. | :35:32. | |
because we will be looking at the propelling dart as to whether it is | :35:32. | :35:35. | |
too strong because it could be something that could be dangerous, | :35:35. | :35:43. | |
whether it be shot at someone's eye. This small trunkaigs cylinder is an | :35:43. | :35:50. | |
important toy safety tool -- truncation cylinder. We can test to | :35:50. | :35:53. | |
see if anything would fit into it to indicate whether it is small | :35:53. | :35:57. | |
enough for them to choke on the item. The items that we are going | :35:57. | :36:01. | |
to be most concerned with, with having removable parts, are the | :36:01. | :36:05. | |
darts and they have these end parts on them which are sticky and they | :36:05. | :36:12. | |
do come off. So they are of a size that will easily fit into the | :36:12. | :36:15. | |
truncation and could be a chokable part. What we are also concerned | :36:15. | :36:19. | |
about is one other small item which is in the toy, which is a whistle. | :36:19. | :36:26. | |
Again, that fits into the truncation. Results later do | :36:26. | :36:31. | |
confirm that while it tested negative for toxins, the police kit | :36:31. | :36:37. | |
fails toy safety regulations. Both the whistle and the suction from | :36:37. | :36:41. | |
the darts could cause choking. The trumpet failed because of | :36:41. | :36:44. | |
inadequate labelling. As for the inflatable product, it turns out to | :36:44. | :36:50. | |
be a swim seat and not a toy. But its design is found to pose a | :36:50. | :36:54. | |
significant risk of drowning so it is declared unsafe. The importers | :36:54. | :37:00. | |
of the goods are based in Salford and Nottingham. So she must alert | :37:00. | :37:04. | |
her Trading Standards colleagues to ensure they recall and destroy all | :37:04. | :37:08. | |
the remaining products. Products which otherwise would have been | :37:08. | :37:16. | |
making their way into Christmas stockings this year. Back at the | :37:16. | :37:21. | |
Portsmouth testing lab, the scientist is about to start | :37:21. | :37:27. | |
analysing the toy samples seized in Southampton. The lab team starts | :37:27. | :37:31. | |
with a tension test on a shoelace from one of the dolls. This will | :37:31. | :37:41. | |
:37:41. | :37:46. | ||
establish how easily it can be detached from the toy. It not only | :37:46. | :37:52. | |
broke, it broke easily. Units of force are measured in Newtons. This | :37:52. | :38:00. | |
should have withstood 90. In fact 0.5 and it came apart. It could be | :38:00. | :38:04. | |
deemed as a choking hazard. Next, the battery pack for the voice box | :38:04. | :38:10. | |
in the doll. There's a small pouch in the back with the battery pack | :38:10. | :38:16. | |
and, again, these ones are directly accessible. There is nothing saying | :38:16. | :38:20. | |
it is not suitable for a child under three. That would fail. | :38:20. | :38:24. | |
Another choking hazard. The next experiment tests the material on | :38:24. | :38:34. | |
:38:34. | :38:40. | ||
this doll to see how easy it will tear. The requirement is 70 Newton. | :38:40. | :38:45. | |
This failed at 28. So it fails the requirement so it gives access to | :38:45. | :38:49. | |
the filling material. The filling material shouldn't be accessible to | :38:49. | :38:55. | |
children so that fails the standard. The team now perform one further | :38:55. | :38:59. | |
tension test. This time on the nose and eyes of the toy dog, that was | :38:59. | :39:09. | |
:39:09. | :39:25. | ||
The wires on that, they have sharp points on there and lead joints | :39:25. | :39:28. | |
which shouldn't be accessible to the children. Following this | :39:28. | :39:33. | |
failure, it is time for the flamibility tests on some of the | :39:33. | :39:38. | |
dolls. This one should not burn faster than 30 millimetres per | :39:38. | :39:48. | |
:39:48. | :39:57. | ||
210 millimetres. Finally, a pass. As the doll burned at a rate of 5 | :39:57. | :40:01. | |
millimetres a second, it is not considered a fire risk, but it did | :40:01. | :40:07. | |
fail other tests. In fact, all of the toys seized and sent for | :40:07. | :40:12. | |
testing failed. The fruit dolls failed to meet labelling | :40:12. | :40:16. | |
requirements and the doll's dress kit was found to contain | :40:16. | :40:21. | |
unacceptable levels of toxin. The other four were found to fail | :40:21. | :40:27. | |
labelling rules. The toy dog, the baby doll in a bag also failed | :40:27. | :40:31. | |
tension tests. And had choking hazards. These particular products | :40:31. | :40:34. | |
won't be reaching the market so they won't get into the hands of | :40:34. | :40:37. | |
young children where they might possibly have done them some damage | :40:37. | :40:42. | |
or injury. We will be letting our colleagues know in the areas where | :40:42. | :40:45. | |
these companies are based that are importing these products so they | :40:45. | :40:51. | |
can go and offer them some advice so the companies can make sure that | :40:51. | :40:59. | |
in future they import legitimate compliant goods. Joining me now is | :40:59. | :41:02. | |
the Trading Standards officer who we saw in the film. We have seen | :41:03. | :41:09. | |
how the toys identified as being dangerous. What about the goods in | :41:09. | :41:13. | |
the other containers? We had some more failures. We removed both | :41:13. | :41:17. | |
containers from the port, separated those that had failed from those | :41:17. | :41:21. | |
that had passed and the ones that were failures, basically they all | :41:21. | :41:29. | |
went to be destroyed. We filled a 30-yard skip from the containers | :41:29. | :41:37. | |
seen on the film. What is your advice on how to get your hands on | :41:37. | :41:42. | |
safe toys? You need to buy the stuff from reputable retailers. | :41:42. | :41:47. | |
Have a good look at them. If you have any problems with them, let | :41:47. | :41:51. | |
your local Trading Standards know. We saw in the film one of these | :41:51. | :41:56. | |
small tubes, it is a choking hazard testing tube. You can get hold of | :41:56. | :42:03. | |
these anywhere? You can. To be honest, commonsense is all you need | :42:03. | :42:13. | |
:42:13. | :42:15. | ||
to think about. Thank you very much. Thanks, Rhodri. Lots of you have | :42:15. | :42:25. | |
:42:25. | :42:27. | ||
been in touch with us today, Rani? Paul says, "I will be buying it to | :42:27. | :42:30. | |
go in future" and Jane says, "Forget what they charge, they | :42:30. | :42:37. | |
charge too much for hot water!" Lots have been in touch about the | :42:37. | :42:45. | |
web address for flight compensation. Thanks, Rani. And that's all we | :42:45. | :42:47. | |
have time for this morning. Coming up on Monday: | :42:47. | :42:51. | |
Apple, Argos, M&S. Want to complain to any of them? It could cost you. | :42:51. | :42:54. | |
British Gas, Scottish Power, EDF. Want to fight back against them and | :42:54. | :42:57. | |
the other big energy providers? And the dangers of sunbeds. Just | :42:57. | :43:01. |