Fire-hazard costumeremoved from sale

A child’s pirate costume branded a fire hazard has been removed from sale.
Pirates costume removed from sale after trading standards operation.Pirates costume removed from sale after trading standards operation.
Pirates costume removed from sale after trading standards operation.

Ties on the hat of the outfit, which was on sale in a Nottinghamshire shop, stayed alight for around 18 seconds in tests .

The relevant British Standard stipulates that an item must not be flammable for more than two seconds once ignited.

Trading standards officers seized the outfit in a safety check on shops ahead of the Halloween and fireworks season.

The pirate costume and another outfit, a Queen of Hearts dress, both had inadequate labelling. They each had aspects within the clothing which would burn to a rate between 10 and 30mm/second, meaning that under the British Standard they must carry the wording ‘Warning! Keep away from fire’ on the labelling. Each simply had the wording ‘In the interest of safety keep away from fire’.

The findings follow tests carried out on eight costumes sent to a laboratory earlier this month.

Coun Glynn Gilfoyle, committee chairman for community safety at Nottinghamshire County Council said: “Four of the products we sent for testing passed all of the tests but these two items fail to comply with the legislation (the remaining two results are still to be received).

“We have asked the retailer to remove the items from sale and the county council have made contact with the relevant Trading Standards authority where the costumes’ importer is based to ask them to advise the business accordingly.”

The operation was led in the area by Tim Watson, as part of a national campaign co-ordinated by Newcastle Trading Standards to test and check outfits to see if they pose a safety risk.

The move follows high profile cases around the UK in previous years of material being easily flammable and products displaying inadequate safety warnings for consumers. In one case, the daughter of celebrity Claudia Winkleman was severely burnt when her Halloween costume caught light.

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