Richard Langton Comments on the Cuts to Consumer Safety Quangos

• Faulty Products

6 November 2010

Following the decision to abolish many quangos with consumer safety remits, leading national law firm Russell Jones & Walker claims that consumer safety has been weakened and future costs to society of avoidable injury will increase.

Partner Richard Langton, who led the largest consumer group litigation in history on ‘toxic sofas’, said: "To date, the UK has adopted a lax approach to consumer product safety largely based on an assumption that products are safe until someone gets injured. The Trading Standards system, run by local authorities, depends mostly on complaints from consumers, however only one in three people injured ever makes a claim.

“We believe that consumer safety demands a national cohesion and strategy, which Consumer Focus and Consumer Direct brought.  Very often in the UK we seem to be slow to react to product recalls compared to the American consumer watchdog, which has teeth and uses them. Whilst politicians seek to highlight the UK’s alleged compensation culture, it is important to remember that prevention is better than cure, and the true cost of avoidable injury, when NHS treatment costs and loss of productivity of injured workers is factored in, must be three or four times the amount ever paid out by insurance companies as compensation. I fear that this is short term cost-cutting which will leave innocent consumers paying the price, and the tax-payer short changed".

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