London Fire Brigade (LFB) has closed down a number of commercial buildings which were being used as residential accommodation as they breached fire safety regulations.

The service has issued prohibition notices on six separate buildings on an industrial estate in Alperton, in the north west of the capital, which housed 150 people.

Inspectors found virtually no means of fire safety measures in the property, with no fire protection situated between different floors and extremely limited means of escape.

Steve Turek, LFB's assistant commissioner for Fire Safety Regulation, said: "The complete contempt some landlords appear to have for the safety of those families they are taking money from is incredible.

"These buildings are potential death traps and it's lucky nobody was killed as a result. Building owners must understand the responsibilities they have under fire safety law."

The brigade was initially alerted to the issue after a fire broke out in an office block on the estate at the end of October and a subsequent inspection found over 50 people living in just 17 rooms.

Every home fire in the past two months has started in a kitchen, a survey by Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service has revealed.

The figures, taken from around Carlisle, have since prompted the Service to issue a warning to the public about fire safety.

Crews have attended ten incidents a day since the start of June. Carlisle station manager Craig Drinkald said: “A kitchen is full of potential fire hazards and these recent fires highlight how dangerous a kitchen can be if people aren’t aware of what can go wrong. Taking extra care in the kitchen can significantly reduce the risk of something happening.”

Chip pans, he said, were safe if used correctly, and members of the public should be mindful of leaving pans unattended and keeping electrical leads, tea towels and cloths away from the cooker and hob.

An investigation is underway after a smoke alarm appeared to spontaneously combust in a home in Hull this week.

16-year-old Victoria Gray reported hearing a "large bang" which she thought was the family dog, Cookie. Upon further investigation she discovered a small fire in the utility room, which she extinguished herself with a bucket of water, according to the Daily Mail.

The Fire Angel ST620 was in a newspaper rack in the room at the time of the explosion. There have been reports that another fire was caused by the same model elsewhere in the UK last week.

The smoke alarms are supplied by fire and rescue services nationally as part of a programme to encourage fire safety. Humberside Fire and Rescue Service have decided to suspend providing the detectors while an independent laboratory investigates further.

A spokesman for Sprue Aegis, who produce the Fire Angel alarms, said that they are cooperating while the independent analysis is ongoing, and in the mean time it is "very much business as usual."

"Highly technical people cannot explain how it happened. We're not taking these reports lightly, however we provide one million alarms every year and we're talking about one small fire. This didn't happen in situ. The forensic side of it is looking into what happened to [the alarm] when it was taken off the ceiling."

Dear LANPAC Member

Bank calls -Trading Standards Warning

Trading Standards have issued the following information warning residents about calls from banks:

Lancashire Trading Standards service has received complaints relating to unsolicited phone calls to consumers, where the caller states that the call is from the 'Fraud Credit Line'.

The caller then claims to be ringing on behalf of a named bank. They ask the recipient for their credit card number and other personal information, but do not ask any of the usual verification questions or give the caller's name when requested. The caller asks for the consumer by his or her full name including middle names, but when challenged refuses to give any contact details for the consumer to check on or call back on, and ends the conversation.

We can only assume this is another bogus company attempting to obtain personal information and advise extreme caution when contacted unexpectedly in this fashion.

Please refer any complaints to Lancashire Trading Standards Service, 55 Guildhall Street, Preston, Lancs PR1 3NU via Consumer Direct tel 08454 040506. If anyone has received threats or lost money they should contact the police.

Kind Regards

Julie Debicka

LANPAC Management Support Team