Yvonne Fovargue MP: Time to register our white goods

My Bill, if it becomes law, would make it a requirement for all white goods – such as washing machines and fridge-freezers - to be registered at the point of sale.

The purpose is to make it easier to contact owners if a fault is identified by the makers and the appliance must be quickly replaced or fixed.

It doesn’t sound particularly far-reaching, but it is. There is a registration system operating now but it’s voluntary and less than a third of all purchasers fill in the details.

Some simply can’t be bothered and all of us have been guilty of this at some time. We take home the registration card and simply never get around to sending it off.

Some of us are perhaps more worried about privacy and fear they’ll be forever hassled by sales pitches and or asked to take part in so-called ‘household surveys’ if they provide contact details.

But the dangers of non-registration are real and were made stark in the recent Whirlpool recall scandal, where a potentially dangerous fault was discovered in certain Hotpoint and Indesit washing machines.

Because so few of the appliances were registered, the manufacturer was only able to contact four in 10 customers for a recall and then only after many, many months.

Thankfully, nobody died or was maimed, but there were around 80 fires directly attributable to the electrical fault.

My Bill would go a great way in preventing disasters in the future by requiring customers to provide contact details at the point they pay for their goods, and before they take them away or have them delivered.

Registration done this way would take a few minutes at the most, but in the long run it could save many lives.

But what about the privacy point you might say, do we really want to open ourselves up to more nuisance calls?

Well, my Bill will make it clear that the details contained in registration documents can only be used for recall purposes and for no other. So no selling, no surveys.

But the fact is, we often provide our contact details for the retailer already, because we usually need to arrange delivery of our goods.

In the case of online purchases, we always do. All that really needs to happen is that this information is collected systematically and provided to the manufacturer for recall purposes.

My Bill covers white goods only, so we’re talking about washing machines, tumble dryers, fridges and freezers, dish washers and other kitchen appliances.

These are machines which could burst into flames if there is an electrical fault. To this list I would add microwaves. Not strictly a white good, true, but certainly one that is potentially dangerous.

I would fully admit that my Bill will not cover every eventuality. For example, it will not deal with white goods bought second-hand, while certain online marketplaces might fall through the net. But it would be a start.

Ultimately, I would like to find a way of capturing all white goods sold and resold, perhaps through the use of a ‘product passport’, whereby goods could be tracked throughout their life.

Much of this will depend on persuading ministers that this is the best way forward.

Unfortunately, because of the way the parliamentary timetable is organised, my Bill has little chance of becoming law as it stands.

But I do hope that it may get some traction and leverage and that the Government will prepare to engage with me and others on this important issue.

It makes sense to do so. Because, the fact remains that if we are to prevent electrical fire tragedies in the future then the burden of registering potentially dangerous kitchen appliances must be put onto retailers and manufacturers, rather than customers and users as it is at present.