How to check if your Hotpoint, Indesit or Creda tumble dryer is a potential fire risk

Chief executive of watchdog the Chartered Trading Standards Institute, Leon Livermore told the BBC on Friday morning that more needed to be done about fire risk Whirlpool tumble dryers before someone dies. Tumble dryers manufactured under Whirlpool owned Hotpoint, Indesit or Creda brands were revealed in November last year to have a fault that could cause fires.

Whirlpool offered free repairs to any affected customers but it later transpired that people with fire risk tumble dryers in their homes would have to wait 11 months before an engineer could come to fix their machine.

Livermore said that "it's not acceptable for a company to leave unsafe products in consumer homes for 11 months". When asked whether the government should get involved, Livermore said that because trading standards services are part of local government, they are often "stretched for resources".

"Central government itself does have back up powers to force people into recalls and to take action. So we would call on the government, in particular the Department for Business Innovation and Skills to take action before someone dies."

The issues affect air-vented and condensed tumble dryers manufactured between April 2004 and September 2015; it does not affected washer-dryers. Whirlpool has set up a dedicated website where you can check whether your dryer is one of those that needs to be repaired.

Owners will need to find the model and serial numbers on their machine and put them into the website's model check. These can be found on a tag that is located on the dryer door, either in the recess or on the back. If your dryer is a Hotpoint or Creda, you can check whether you need to get the repair by putting the serial number through Hotpoint's site; if it's an Indesit, you can check via Indesit's site.