Dangerous electrical goods
22 April 2010, 11:01 | Updated: 22 April 2010, 11:38
Gloucestershire Trading Standards officers are warning people about the dangers of buying cheap electrical goods online from overseas.
This after they tested a number of hairdryers and hair straighteners, some aimed at children, as well as mains adaptors for games consoles and laptop chargers.
They tested 25 items that came from China and Hong Kong - all failed basic safety tests while 22 failed on issues that could be serious and were considered unsafe.
Trading Standards Manager for Safety, Mark Gardiner, told Heart more about their tests:
This picture shows a ‘Hello Kitty’ hairdryer bought from Hong Kong for just £5.
It shows the damage caused by overheating.
Mark Gardiner told us why it was dangerous:
The Electrical Safety Council, which funded the research, has come up with a guide to buying electrical goods online, find out more at www.esc.org.uk