As we were aware from the messages in the forums there has been an alleged tumble dryer fire that had caused massive damage to Ms Judy Benoir Milner’s home.
For legal reasons until the story entered the public domain we could not publish the details that we were aware of some time ago. However yesterday evening the story was the opening feature on the BBC’s Watchdog program giving all the details of the events and showing the considerable damage to Ms Milner’s home. From the Watchdog website: “2nd March 2004
Judy Benoit-Milner, a mother of five from Walthamstow, bought a Whirlpool tumble dryer from Costco. On the 2nd January this year she went on her honeymoon to Barcelona but returned on the 6th to devastating news. There had been a fire at the family home. The fire brigade had deemed that the house was uninhabitable, and their initial analysis was that the fire had probably been caused by Judy’s new tumble dryer, bought only eight days before. This was later corroborated by independent forensic experts, Casella Stanger. However, Whirlpool and Costco have accepted no responsibility.
Whirlpool said that they would do nothing until they had examined the machine, but two months later they still hadn’t done so. Judy had no insurance and so since the fire she and her family have been homeless.
Whirlpool have now examined the machine and say they have their own independent forensic report which suggests that the dryer’s control switch was in the off position. They say that an electrical fault within the machine that could cause fire can therefore be virtually discounted and that these preliminary findings will be subject to further investigation when they have access to the house.
The model involved was a Whirlpool AWZ 6303 Condenser Dryer.”
We would like to wish Ms Milner the best of luck in finding a resolution to the current situation and we would hope that Whirlpool and Costco do likewise.