B&Q faces six-figure payout in heater case

DIY giant B&Q is facing a six-figure legal bill after the Kidderminster store sold a "defective" radiator to a woman who suffered serious injuries in a fall as she tried to move it.

Valerie Atkins, aged 58, bought the portable radiator from B&Q to help to warm up her home after it was hit by flooding. But she suffered serious shoulder injuries as she fell on top of it when a wheel stuck as she repositioned it in her home in Bridgnorth.

A hearing at Stoke County Court last year found B&Q fully liable for Mrs Atkins' "unpleasant fall". The company tried to appeal against the ruling, claiming Mrs Atkins was partly to blame.

But at the Civil Appeal Court in London yesterday a judge condemned B&Q's claim as "hopeless" and ordered it to pay legal costs which the company's representative estimated at "more than £100,000".

Mrs Atkins, of Friar Street, bought the radiator in 2004.

Examination of the radiator revealed that a metal plate fixing one of the plastic castors to the radiator was distorted.

B&Q said Mrs Atkins had leaned too heavily on it.

However, at Stoke County Court, District Judge Rank found B&Q fully liable. The damages payout has yet to be assessed.