YEOVIL NEWS: People warned - don't buy cheap phone chargers!

THIS was the damage caused to an extension cable after a faulty phone charger started to smoulder yesterday morning at a home in Yeovil – but things could have been a whole lot worse.

The smell of burning woke 18-year-old Duncan McCabe and he discovered a plugged-in iPhone charger beginning to catch alight; so he quickly averted potential disaster at his home in Magna Close yesterday (Thursday, July 3, 2014).

Duncan’s dad, Rodger, had just left for work and was totally unaware of what was unfolding – so he was an extremely relieved man when he was told of the discovery and even more so when he began to realise about what might have happened.

“If Duncan hadn’t been in, the house could have been burnt down,” he said. “Thank goodness Duncan woke up – or things could have been a lot worse. I don’t like to think about what might have happened.”

Duncan told the Yeovil Press that he bought the phone charger as part of a cheap pack of five off of an auction website.

“They were very cheap about £2 each I seem to remember,” he said. “I’ve always bought them this way so wouldn’t normally knock it.

“But there was obviously something very faulty with this one. I’ve learnt a lesson – never again buy a cheap phone charger because I might not be so lucky next time.”

Rodger said he had heard about phone chargers sometimes burning, but had never thought it would happen to him.

“Well it has happened to me now and I would advise people just to be careful about where they buy these things in the future,” he said. “You never know what you might be buying if you go for a cheaper option off the internet or from a car boot sale.”

The dangers of faulty phone chargers are becoming more prominent in the media.

Only earlier this year a fire at a home in Sheffield - which resulted in the deaths of five people including a nine-week-old baby and two little boys aged under ten – is believed to have been started by a dodgy phone charger.

An investigation by the Trading Standards Institute last year found dangerous chargers and adaptors - that fail European safety standards - were being sold on the internet for just £5.

Out of 21 devices it tested a total of 15 were unsafe with seven of those deemed so dangerous they posed a risk of electrocution.

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