Trading Standards seize a number of dangerous hoverboards

Hoverboards had become a ‘must have’ item this year until Trading Standards Services across the country began to discover large numbers of unsafe boards being imported and sold in the UK. This led to national media headlines.

After an alert from a member of the public, Oxfordshire County Council’s Trading Standards Officers visited two shops on Friday 18 December and seized a number of these items. Checks have shown that these are very poor quality boards and could cause a fire risk to anyone using them.

Oxfordshire Trading Standards are continuing to look for and remove these unsafe products from the market. If you have brought a scooter in the  Oxfordshire area and it has no "CE" mark on the plug or scooter, no manufacturer details or batch number or if it has only a 2 pin plug then please contact Trading Standards via the National Consumer Service on 03454 040506.

Martin Woodley, Oxfordshire County Council's Trading Standards Doorstep Crime Lead Officer, said: "Unfortunately unsafe hoverboards are being imported into the UK without the correct checks and paperwork.

“The bad examples are so poorly made they cannot comply with safety standards. The public are paying out  large amounts of money for items that are inferior and unsafe. These have the potential to catch fire and cause electric shocks . The county council’s trading standards service will continue to remove these offending items from sale to protect Oxfordshire residents and the sellers of safe, compliant products.

“The public should also be aware that, even when they buy safe and legal hoverboards there are severe restrictions on their use and they must not be used on roads or pavements.”