Firm fined £16k for selling unsafe heated plates

A company has been fined £16,000 for importing and selling thousands of heated plates that failed UK safety rules.

The sale of the electrical devices was investigated after a shopper in Colchester raised the alarm.

Essex Trading Standards later found the hotplates posed a "serious risk of burning and electrical shock".

Safa Food 1 Ltd, of Hayes, Middlesex, admitted 10 offences under the Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations 2016 and was ordered to pay a further £11,853 in costs at Southend Magistrates' Court.

The business sold 2,994 hotplates to more than 200 retailers across England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, having imported them from China.

Trading Standards said an officer visited the Colchester shop in May 2023 and noticed several devices had no UK plugs.

They seized one of the hotplates and found it was of "poor construction" upon testing.

It was later discovered that Safa Food 1 was relying on a Chinese test report that did not cover British electrical safety standards.

Officers also found the company did not react to a complaint from a shop in Rotherham in 2022, which reported a hotplate tripping its electrical system.

During the court hearing, magistrates ordered 69 plates found at the firm's premises should be destroyed.

Mark Durham, a Conservative at Essex County Council, thanked the "eagle-eyed" shopper for helping to secure a prosecution.

"These hotplates presented serious safety risks to the companies and customers purchasing them," he added.

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