BBQ accidents cost Britons millions

Posted : 30-05-2006

Britons using inappropriate and dangerous techniques to light their barbeques are causing millions of pounds worth of damage to their homes and gardens, new research has found.

Halifax Home Insurance completed a study that has found that barbeque mishaps have caused £296 million in damage to homes and gardens across the country.

The study also found that 1.7 million Britons have used the shortcut of petrol to light their barbeques and 1.2 million have used the highly hazardous method of using aerosols to get their coals going.

Vicky Emmott, senior underwriter at Halifax Home Insurance, said: "Millions of Britons risk the health and safety of themselves and their guests by using potentially lethal accelerants to light barbeques. Using petrol or white spirits to light a barbeque is extremely dangerous and could easily result in a fire that is uncontrollable.

"With the MET office forecasting a wet summer it is vital that people who wish to press ahead with hosting BBQs do not resort to lighting them with combustible or explosive materials."

Over 600,000 UK barbeque enthusiasts have astonishingly used perfume to light their barbeques and 480,000 have used garden ornaments for fuel.

Using flammable liquids to start a fire is extremely hazardous, as is burning plastic or other substances not designed to be flammable.


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