Two shops in Hackney which were selling potentially dangerous hoverboards have been forced to surrender 10 of them to officers from Hackney Council’s trading standards team.
The self-balancing boards were discovered in two of 20 shops searched on Friday as part of a London-wide crackdown on the back of recent incidents across the country of hoverboards malfunctioning, overheating and exploding when left unattended.
Deputy Mayor, Cllr Sophie Linden, said: “These hoverboards have caused fires and explosions and by visiting shops that are likely to sell these products, trading standards are stopping potentially dangerous pieces of equipment from making it to the streets of Hackney.”
The council officers found that the surrendered hoverboards had charging units without the cut-off switch, which stops the battery charging when it’s fully charged, and they also had substandard plugs without fuses, which could allow the device to overheat and later explode.
Of 17,000 hoverboards imported into the UK since October inspected by safety watchdogs, 88 per cent were found defective. Many were destined to be sold as Christmas presents.
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