An Australian family’s home was destroyed after a charging hoverboard caught fire.
The self-balancing scooter, given as a Christmas present, was charging in a girl’s bedroom when it began to spark according to local media.
Although the resulting fire spread quickly, the family of five were alerted by the smoke alarm and managed to escape the house.
The fire caused severe damage to the house, in the Melbourne suburb of Strathmore, and the family have found somewhere else to stay.
Local media reported that the blaze took 30 minutes to control, with around 25 firefighters attending the scene.
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Related: Hoverboard buying guide
In the lead-up to Christmas in the UK, Trading Standards reported that more than 15,000 ‘dangerous’ hoverboards had been seized at UK ports.
Among the issues identified were problems with internal batteries, cut-off switches, plugs, chargers, and cables.
Concerns over unsafe hoverboards led online retailer Amazon to email customers who had bought the devices with non-UK compliant plugs, asking them to dispose of them immediately.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
