Mum's anguish after tumble dryer blaze leaves her £1,000 out of pocket
A furious mother had to fork out nearly £1,000 to repair her kitchen after her Hotpoint tumble dryer burst into flames.
Emma Priest, 29, said her cats were almost killed and she had to spend two months sofa-surfing following the blaze, which she added Hotpoint have denied all responsibility for.
The postal worker from Wolverhampton had put a load of freshly-washed clothes into the dryer before heading upstairs to wake her 10-year-old son Jayden.
She said they were laughing together at one of their cats, when the smoke alarm went off and they spotted smoke in the hallway.
Ms Priest said: "I ran downstairs and saw the dryer on fire. I got my son out and went to knock on the neighbours' doors. One neighbour ran in with a bucket of water - he put his life at risk.
"I lost all my carpets, all the food in the freezer, my cats were half dead. I've had to borrow £800 from family to get things sorted."
The mother-of-one sent her son to his dad's house while she stayed on friends' sofas while her house was repaired. They were not able to move back in until eight weeks later.
Hoping to receive some support from the electrical company Hotpoint, who manufactured her dryer, Ms Priest got in touch with the firm.
But she claimed staff treated her poorly since the incident took place back in June - and now she wants to take action.
She said although they gave her a replacement dryer, they did not offer any type of compensation for the damage caused.
Ms Priest said: "I lost all my appliances, photos, folders I had in the kitchen. I have three cats - Screwball, Oscar and Bandit - they're like my children too. They used to be such loving cats but they're jumpy and nervous now.
"We had to smash the window to rescue two of them."
Hotpoint hit the national news back in March 2017, when the company had to recall two types of tumble dryers made between April 2004 and September 2015 due to a fire risk.
There was the concern that in some rare cases excess lint or fluff could come into contact with the heating element set alight.
Ms Priest has owned her dryer since September 2007 and said she looked after it well, regularly cleaning the filter to get rid of dust.
A spokesman for Whirlpool, who own Hotpoint, said: "The safety of consumers is our number one priority and we thoroughly investigate all incidents as soon as they are reported to us. However, you will appreciate, we are unable to comment on individual cases.''
