A mum-of-two had a lucky escape after her tumble dryer caught fire and the blaze ripped through her home.
Beauty therapist Jemma Wagner from Fairford heard the fire alarm go off while working from home one day and came downstairs to find smoke billowing from the Indesit appliance.
She saw flames inside the drum of the machine and fled the property while struggling to breathe.
She believes the appliance had a dangerous fault, as she later learned the model had been on recall due to safety concerns.
Indesit said the tumble dryer Ms Wagner owned was manufactured after the recall period ended and their examination found no fault with the five-year-old appliance.
Jemma has not been able to return to her home since the incident last June.
Jemma, her husband and her two children have been living in hotels and other accommodation over the last seven months as work to investigate whether her home was still structurally sound kept being delayed.
The downstairs of the property has been gutted and everything upstairs was irreparably smoke-damaged, including all of the equipment she relied on for her job.
When Jemma looked up the model number, IDC85UK, on the manufacturer’s website, a notice said, “unfortunately, your appliance is one of the affected models”, and urged owners to unplug and not use them until they are modified.
Jemma said: “Thankfully, no one was hurt. By the time I got to the fire, the smoke was too much and I had to get out or I wouldn’t make it out.
“Someone came to look at the tumble dryer and told us it was made with a heating element that none of the newer ones have because it’s not safe, they have heat pumps now instead.
"I've also noticed that you can't buy the model I had any more.
“It was sent for forensic testing but [Indesit] have come back saying it was our fault.
“I clean out the fluff from the dryer after every use because I know that letting it build up is how fires start. The bottom line is tumble dryers should not catch on fire.
“They offered us £200 or a new dryer but we certainly won't be owning one again or purchasing anything from Indesit or Hotpoint when we rebuild our home.
"They have been awful. I'm angry and frustrated. It's diabolical that you can go through something like this and they don't care.
"We have family in Cricklade and Swindon and I know they and all our friends and clients are all a lot more cautious now around their tumble dryer use.
“Financially, it’s been a massive strain - I've had to rebuy all my beauty equipment - but my clients have been very supportive.
"I don’t want anyone else to go through this.”
Jemma and her family are hopeful that they will be able to move back into their Fairford home in the near future now that work to repair the damage to the house has finally started.
An Indesit spokesperson said: “I can confirm that this [product recall] affected units manufactured between April 2004 and October 2015.
“Mrs Wagner's dryer was manufactured significantly after this date and therefore was not affected, hence her not being contacted.
“The £200 or replacement dryer that was offered was purely to enable Ms Wagner to replace the dryer so that we could collect it and undertake a forensic examination.
“That examination found no fault with the dryer and the claim was subsequently rejected.
“Whilst of course, our sympathy goes out to Mrs Wagner and her family, following the examination we consider the matter closed and no further action from ourselves.”
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