Episode 4 X-Ray

You are watching x-ray. If you have been ripped off for that deal turns

out to be dodgy, we will battle it out on your behalf. We are here to

fight your corner. Tonight, how flammable

is your child's Halloween costume? Now a change in the law could give

commuters more clout to complain! The more people claim the more

they are going to start listening the more they are going to realise

this service isn't acceptable. And Gareth and Joy paid six grand

for a new set of wheels But the garage now has

their cash, and their car. Now, it's Halloween next

week, and many people But how safe are the

costumes we're buying? Poundland has just issued a product

recall for their range of coloured 'Fright Nite' wigs after they failed

the company's fire safety testing. And it's not just wigs that

could cause a real life Dressing up as witches,

fairies and skeletons is all part But this time two years ago,

a terrifying accident sparked TV presenter Claudia Winkleman

described how her eight-year-old daughter was badly burnt

after a candle set fire As a parent you couldn't have failed

to have been shocked The hope, of course,

that something would be At the time, many retailers agreed

to make sure that Halloween outfits and other fancy dress costumes

would be less flammable in future. Two years on, the shops are once

again full of colourful They look great, but

are they any safer? We asked a group of mums from Rudry,

near Caerphilly, if it was something I've never considered

whether a costume I'm We're thinking about how much fun

we'll have wearing them, You expect that if you're

going to buy something By law, children's fancy dress

costumes are classed as toys, and have to meet

European Standard EN71. But that means that if they caught

fire, they could still burn There is of course a big difference

between this and a toy. If your child's teddy caught fire,

they could drop it and run away. And that's worrying surgeons

at the Welsh Centre for Burns. Young skin is thinner

than an adult's skin so it takes a lower temperature and a shorter

duration of time in contact with the heat to cause a burn

in a child than it would do in an adult, that's what makes

children more vulnerable. Retailers say they've made

warning labels clearer, and that costumes are now more

fire-resistant. So with Halloween fast approaching,

I want to see for myself just how flammable the costumes on sale this

year really are. These Halloween dresses,

from major supermarkets and discount stores,

range in price from ?1 to ?14. The shops which sell them say

they've all been fire tested to a higher standard

than is required by law. With each of the costumes we're

going to set a light to them with a candle,

simulate a child brushing against a tealight or something

like that on Halloween. It's not a scientific test,

and the dresses vary in size and fabric, but you'll get a good

idea. Up first is the Zombie Princess

dress from Sainsbury's. The company says its costumes have

built in fire breaks and fabric which is carefully chosen to slow

down the spread of flames. After just one minute,

the fire has reached the waistband. And when it takes hold

it's not a pretty sight. It has started melting up and going

up through the costume now, as you can see there is plastic

dripping off it, which would stick Eventually, almost eight

minutes after lighting With several other dresses,

the flames start to burn, but go out before they reach

the body of the dress. Asda's Orange Pumpkin

dress is up next. At first, it seems to perform well,

the flame goes out But on Craig's advice, we try again,

lighting the hem in exactly the same way, and this time, it's

a very different story. Now that is actually

quite dramatic that one, that's gone straight up

the middle there. Yes, Rachel, you can see how quick

now that these can take hold. The costume is engulfed in flames

and drops to the ground after 1 min 23 seconds,

where it keeps burning. That is actually

quite scary isn't it? It is, that's gone

up really quickly. Asda though insists the costume has

passed their flammability tests, Morrisons also performs well

at first, the flame goes But when we re-light it,

in the same way, the entire dress is destroyed within 3

and a half minutes. When we light the hem

of the costume from B, there's only a small

amount of damage. But when we try the sleeve,

it melts after 35 seconds, and causes the rest of the dress

to catch fire. Craig isn't too impressed

with Aldi's Vampire dress either. It took a little bit of time

to catch, but when it did catch it went up through the midriff quite

quickly, a lot of toxic Yeah, very noticeable,

quite thick black smoke. We're also struck by the fumes

coming off this Home Bargains dress. All in all, there's a real

mixture of results. But all the costumes we tested

burned to some degree. Some of the fabrics did

perform quite well actually and if you were a vigilant parent

you might be okay, but other fabrics really didn't and all that was left

of those costumes was a sort of solid plastic mass on the floor,

that was dripping hot plastic And that's not a chance I'd

like to take with my child's skin. So, if they're burning and dripping

those patches of molten plastic will stick to the skin

and potentially cause a deep burn. Little people, wearing

something like this, They're not going

to know what to do. No, you need somebody

very calmly tell them to stop where they are,

not to run, to stop, drop to the floor and roll and that

will put the flames out. The burn needs to be cooled

with cold running water Once you've cooled the burn cover it

with something really simple like cling film and call

for some help. Safety groups, including

the British Standards Institution, are calling for even tougher laws

on costume safety. Until that happens, be extra

careful this Halloween. We passed our findings

onto the companies, who all said They all stressed that the costumes

we tested have passed numerous independent tests of a higher

standard than the legal minimum. B did also say they've

brought our findings to the urgent attention of their suppliers

and will take any steps necessary to make sure

their products are safe. And if you really want to cut

the risk of fire this Halloween, lots of places are selling LED

tealights like this one to put in your pumpkins,

much safer than real candles! Still to come, we meet commuters

who say taking the train It's getting like a cattle

truck, everyone standing. But Arriva Trains Wales insist

they're doing a good job. It's perception, and not fact,

and I think that's what I want The evidence shows that 80%

of our trains arrive on time Time for a quick update on some

of the stories we brought you last week and we've had several calls

about fake landlord Dale Sparey who owes money to lots of people

in Bridgend and Porthcawl. Some new information

about his whereabouts, And last week we featured the case

of taxi driver Steven O'Connell who'd had a string of parking

charges after dropping off passengers at a car

park in Ebbw Vale. The company blamed his

personalised number plate But it seems parking problems

are cropping up in other Almost 125,000 people in Wales

are blue badge holders. These badges mean disabled drivers

get dedicated spaces, with extra room around the car

for wheelchairs or And in most council car parks,

and some private ones, Robert Nicholls has had a blue

badge for many years. A few weeks ago, he arranged to meet

a friend at Cardiff West services, and drove into the disabled

section of the car park. You've got a row of parking bays

marked with the disabled sign on the floor and a solitary disabled

sign. Robert says he didn't see any

information about how long he could stay, or whether he'd

have to pay. So he assumed it was free,

and stayed for three hours. Then, a week later Robert had

a shock, when this arrived. A parking charge notice telling him

he'd stayed too long without paying If he paid quickly, it

would go down to sixty. It's quite a bit of money,

quite a chunk out of the food bill the car is used mainly

for going back and fore to the hospital which I have

to attend quite regularly, Robert wrote to CP Plus,

and asked us to check As we drove in, we saw one sign,

telling us there's free parking for two hours,

not that we could stop to read it. But there were none in the disabled

section of the car park, a clear breach of the British

Parking Association's I believe they should cancel Liz

and myself's ticket, or anybody else that has been parked

there because they haven't displayed the signs to give the people

using the disabled bay the information that is

required to use the site. Well, CP Plus say they're now

looking into Robert's complaint, but point out that he contacted us

before going through They told us their car parks

are regularly checked by the British Parking Association

but after we sent them a few photos, they have now agreed to look again

at the signage in the disabled section of the Cardiff West

services, and put up more notices So hopefully everything will be

much clearer very soon. Many of us rely on them to get

us to work every day, but as I've been finding out,

it can be a bumpy ride. With almost 1,500 miles of track

and 30 million passenger journeys every year, people all over

Wales rely on trains. I come from Taffs Well

station into Cardiff Newport to Cardiff Central

and Cardiff Central to Queen Street. There are four train

operators in Wales. Arriva Trains Wales is the largest,

with 127 trains, It may be the biggest company,

but many of its passengers don't We first met some of

them 18 months ago. John Riva was fed up

with overcrowding. Everyone was crammed

into the smallest of spaces, packed in like sardines you can't

move, you can't breathe. Bethan Woolrich was unhappy

with the service too. Usually the five o'clock

to six o'clock trains, people don't get on the trains

because they physically So a year and a half down the line,

are services running In fact, they seem

to be getting worse. In a recent survey by Which?,

Arriva Trains Wales dropped a whopping 13 places from last year,

to rank as the worst company The same survey found less than half

of Arriva's customers were happy Campaigner Steve Fletcher runs

a Facebook page called Has he seen any improvements

since we met him last March? Since last time we met we've

gone from around 800 These days, Steve sits on Arriva's

passenger panel and gives So do you think they are

listening to your complaints They definitely hear the complaints

whether they are always acting And when things aren't up

to scratch, passengers like Bethan Woolrich say it's tricky

to claim compensation. I went through numerous

channels to claim. There was no solutions just excuses

of why services were as they were. But there could be light

at the end of the tunnel! In the past, train travel wasn't

covered by the Consumer Rights Act - And here's how that could help

passengers in future. Firstly, your train

service must be provided If Wi-fi is advertised and not

provided if they've advertised a refreshments trolley and that's

not provided if you can't get the seat that you've booked

on if the toilet's out of order or dirty lots of things now any

inconvenience on your journey you're There are also changes to the way

compensation is paid. You can now insist on a cash refund

instead of vouchers! You can opt for cash, a cheque,

a BACS payment as long as you specify it at the point

of your complaint. It allows us to decide how we're

going to spend our money instead of having to put it back

into the train company. Another bit of great news is that

season ticket holders can now claim compensation,

although Arriva Trains Wales You've got to claim every single

time and you can't just do them all in one go, so their claim form

isn't the easiest to fill in and if I'm late every single day

I've got to do that 200 times John Riva agrees there could be real

problems ahead with claiming. You're going to get everyone making

a claim and they'll just pass on that cost to the consumer we'll

end up paying more But what if you can't agree

on the amount of compensation? Well, you could now take your rail

operator to court. I'll be interested to see how that

progresses the first few people that challenge it you would hope

you would be able to come to an amicable settlement with the rail

companies first though. In the past, many commuters say

claiming's been a hassle! A recent survey by Transport Focus

found just 12% of people eligible Steve thinks rail firms need to pull

out all the stops If they can allow bulk claiming

if they can even start proactive claiming or proactive compensation

it'll all be great for the customer. The more people claim the more

they are going to start listening the more they are going to realise

this service isn't acceptable. Well, it seems many

Arriva Trains Wales passengers are far from happy with

the service they're getting. Lynne Milligan is the company's

customer services director. The Which survey says Arriva trains

Wales is the worst operator in UK, customers less satisfied

than when we last spoke, this We're always disappointed

when we get poor feedback, 111 people, when we carry

30 million people a year, It's perception and not

fact and I think that's what I want to get over

to our customers today. The evidence shows that 80%

of our trains arrive on time and we run 1000 trains,

the evidence shows we're one of top Are you doing anything

to make claiming easier? The consumer rights act which has

just come in for transport on October 1st will look at every

case on its individual merits. So on the front page of our website,

there is a button which is delay and compensation, if you click

through to that, it really helps to navigate through,

tells you am I entitled, you can take a picture of your ticket,

upload it and it goes straight into our team to be processed

as quickly as possible. Will they still have

to claim for every single Yes, they will because we have

to protect ourselves against fraudulent claims and that's

why we require customers to make a claim for an individual journey

so that we can investigate that journey and check

out the details of it. Last time we spoke,

we talked about overcrowding, it's still a massive issue

for your passengers. You said there was simply

no more train stock, is there no way that can trains can

be provided, more trains. Our biggest challenge is we have 127

trains but the demand is growing, we're seeing almost double

the growth since the franchise started, and train size just hasn't

kept pace with that, its as frustrating to us

as it is to customers and hopefully new franchise will address that

in terms of what ever rolling stock strategy

the government puts in place. Time for a news update -

and from next week, budget airline Ryanair is cutting its online check

in period from seven days before a flight

to just four. Hardly ideal if you're

on holiday at the time! And if you don't check in online,

you'll have to fork Trading standards in Pembrokeshire

are warning of a cold-calling scam, where people are told they must

have a smoke alarm by law - The caller then tries

to charge eighty pounds. Remember, the Fire service can

provide smoke alarms for free! And some major banks are under fire,

for not doing enough to protect Tested 11 banks and found some -

including Lloyds and Santander - weren't offering

a two step ID check. Now, Rachel's been investigating

a family run car firm which seems We're actually from BBC Wales

from the X-ray programme. Four years ago, I was battling it

out on behalf of a viewer who'd bought a faulty Mini from the Cars

to Go garage in Briton Ferry. After we got involved,

Natalie Amphlett got her money back. And now I'm back a few hundred yards

up the road where the same family of car dealers left an elderly

couple without transport I've been lying awake,

thinking and worrying about it, it plays on your mind

all the time, you can't get Gareth Rees and his wife

Joy from Brynamman love So when Gareth and Joy decided

to change their car in May this year they were looking for something that

had the oomph to tow After some searching,

Gareth thought he'd struck lucky when he found a Landrover Freelander

for sale on the forecourt We went up to see it and I fancied

it, it looked immaculate. So Gareth traded in his

old Vauxhall Astra for ?1,500 and handed the boss, Ceri James,

a cheque for the rest. How did you feel once you'd

purchased the vehicle? But as soon as they took

their new car home, things Even though the handbrake was on,

the car lurched backwards, And over the next few days, the list

of faults got longer and longer. Then I found out the

sunroof wasn't working. And a few other

things came to light. Gareth rang James Motor

Company to complain, and they arranged for another garage

to repair the Landrover. But when more than three weeks went

by, with still no sign of the car being ready,

the couple demanded a refund. At first, James Motor Company

agreed, but cheekily, they wanted to take off the ?600

they said they'd spent They said, oh the boss

isn't here right now, I went up then tomorrow and he said,

oh the cheque has been signed but not signed for this week,

it'll be signed next week. So I had to go back

with nothing again. By August, there was still no sign

of the money, despite the best We'd sent a number of letters

via registered post and they just kept being delivered to the sorting

office unsigned for. So when the family decided

to take legal action against James Motor company,

they wanted to make sure they didn't I thought, right I'm

going to deliver this by hand and I'm going to film it so he can't

deny he's received it. Natalie handed the letter

to the boss Ceri James. The county court later ordered

the company to give Gareth and Joy We wrote to Ceri James,

but he refused to tell us why His solicitor sent us this letter

saying James Motor Company has ceased trading and they consider

the matter closed. There's now a different

garage, Prestige Motors, But the boss of that company insists

Ceri James doesn't work here. We're not convinced though,

we've just spotted him inside. But by the time we knock

the door, he's disappeared. Less than a week after we got

in touch there was a knock He said I've come from the garage

and they told me to give you this. So he gave me the envelope

and I opened it and behold It's been a lot of

sleepless nights for them. It's taken away their pleasure

of the caravan. So, yeah, he had the cheque

and smiles all round. You can see instantly

the worry lifting from them. Well, I'm happy to say that Gareth

and Joy's cheque has cleared and they're over the moon

with the result. It's just a shame we had

to get involved before Remember, we're here

to fight your corner so if there's anything you want us to look

into for you, get in touch: Omar becomes a bin man for the day

to learn the rules of recycling! Several hours later Omar

successfully recycles. Hello, I'm Riz Lateef

with your 90 second update. The first of an estimated

8,000 migrants have left the camp at Calais

known as The Jungle. French authorities plan

to bulldoze it. Migrants are being

resettled around France.