'No risk if care is taken on buggies'
Trading Standards in Northamptonshire stood by its decision to not take children's buggies off the shelves despite the issue in America.
One million pushchairs in America have been recalled in the US by the Long Buckby-based company Maclaren after reports that children had their fingertips cut off after catching them in its hinges.
Yesterday, Northamptonshire County Council's trading standards department said the firm had only reported one similar case in the UK.
Maclaren has now placed a video on You-tube on how to safely open and fold the buggy.
David Hedger, interim head of Northamptonshire Trading Standards, Wootton Hall, compared the risk to any other product that has a mechanism. He said: "Every product that has a safety mechanism will inevitably carry an inherent risk to the user.
"This type of mechanism has been in use for quite a long time, it is also used in other products such as high chairs.
"It serves as a timely reminder for anybody using this type of product to make sure that the little fingers of children are not put at risk in any way."
Mr Hedger added that, if the instructions were followed correctly, the strollers did not pose a danger.
He said: "As long as parents ensure the stroller is fully erected before a child is allowed to get in it, the risk is non-existent."
Maclaren approached Trading Standards in September to highlight the issue but, because there had only been one incident in the UK and the pushchair conformed to EU regulations, a product recall was not legally necessary.
Mr Hedger, added: "We have risk-assessed it and we do not feel we can ask Maclaren to take any action.
"If more injuries come to light as a result of the publicity, we will keep things under review."
In the US, children only seemed to be injured when they had been put in the buggy when it had not been fully opened out.
He said: "We understand from Maclaren that the injuries have occurred when children have got into the stroller before it has been fully erected."
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Saturday 04 February 2012
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