Maclaren pushchair fault
In 2009 injury lawyers were advising parents on accident claims, after their children received severe injuries whilst in a Maclaren pushchair.
As a result, the manufacturer had to release advice on many pushchairs due to the faulty one million folding chairs in America.
There were reports of children receiving personal injury and losing fingers when they got their hands caught in the hinge mechanism.
15 separate families have sought legal aid since then, and lawyers are receiving calls on a daily basis from British parents seeking compensation claims.
The incidents include injuries ranging from children’s fingers being cut off because of lacerations - to fingertips being cut off. One child needed plastic surgery to repair her fingertip because the injury was so bad.
The company has agreed to offer UK owners of affected Maclaren buggies the same safety kit that US consumers have been offered, but it has not undertaken a recall in Great Britain, as the items do conform to European safety standards.
The affected models include the Volo, Triumph, Quest Sport, Quest Mod, Techno XT, TechnoXLR, Twin Triumph, Twin Techno and Easy Traveller. The recall in the US covers pushchairs manufactured in the last ten years.
Managing Partner of an personal injury lawyer group, stated: “There may be more families out there whose children have suffered an accident involving a pushchair but don't realise they can make an accident claim. Our advice to the general public is that they need to be aware of the dangers.
“If you or your child has suffered an injury because of one of these pushchairs get in touch with an accident claims solicitor. You could be entitled to make a claim for compensation against the manufacturer or the person who sold it to you.
“Most people think you only have a short period of time to make an accident claim but for an accident involving children you have until three years after their 18th birthday to make a claim for compensation.
“[We] operate on a no win no fee basis which means you do not pay for our legal services whether you win or lose and you will receive 100% of the compensation awarded to you,” he said.
Anger over faulty contraptions
In similar news, a pushchair safety alert has been forced by another baby transport firm, after one of its popular models has been affected by dodgy breaks. The mistake has since been dealt with.
The Dutch product by Bugaboo, which costs £418 and is favoured by celebrities, has been affected by brackets and the brakes.
However, anger rose after thousands of parents who forked out for the expensive product before the problem was rectified, have not been told of problems or made aware through the common safety warnings issues in such circumstances.
Bugaboo has put an updated announcement on its website, which read: “Bugaboo has recently learned that it has had some cases that the Bugaboo Bee brake has not worked properly after a period of time in use.
“For this reason, we have taken precautionary measures and developed a set of brackets that can be easily clicked onto the rear wheels of the pushchair in order to secure the brake function. The brackets are now integrated into the Bugaboo Bee during production.”
Those who had bought the model without brackets are then invited to fill in a form to receive some in the post.
Whilst the announcement has been made, parents are still angry that they were not told about the potentially unsafe pushchairs.
The firm stated that it has taken the correct steps to notify buggy owners.
Updated on 15/02/2010