REDDITCH residents are urged to be on their guard when purchasing e-cigarettes this Christmas.
The warning comes from Worcestershire Regulatory Services Trading Standards team following recent tests by the county’s trading standards officers who identified e-cigarettes with batteries that do not have a charging cut off.
The news means that the batteries will continue to charge after reaching full capacity with continual charging potentially leading to overheating, which could in turn produce an ignition source.
A spokesperson for Trading Standards, said: “We are concerned about the quality of some of these e-cigarettes and chargers that are on the market place, which is why we have undertaken some testing – the did confirm our fears that some of these products are unsafe.
With a number of incidents nationally where e-cigarettes or their accessories have been identified as the source of house fires, people across the town are encouraged to note the following advice to avoid purchasing potentially dangerous products.
Shoppers should ensure purchases are made from a reputable source, the e-cigarette carries a CE mark and its packaging carries the manufacturer or importer’s name and address.
E-cigarette users should never leave e-cigarettes on charge unattended for long periods, particularly overnight, and should not components of different e-cigarettes.
Only the charger supplied with the e-cigarette at point of sale should be used to charge your device.
Finally, all residents are advised to regularly test their smoke alarms.
Consumers with concerns over the safety an e-cigarette, or any other product, should contact the Citizens Advice Consumer Service on 03454 04 05 06.
