from Councillor Kate Mills
This winter will be extremely tough for our older residents with the removal of the Winter Fuel Payment, and I have seen that we now have over 1/2 million signatures indicating that banning the winter fuel allowance is wrong.
My personal concern is that many will be keeping themselves warm by using a hot water bottle without knowing they have a shelf life. When a hot water bottle gets old the material perishes and can cause the hot liquid to burst from the casing resulting in 3rd degree burns.
I'm urging the public to check the age of their bottles. It's an easy check as each bottle has a distinctive mark. This is a round symbol with a number in the centre, as in the image above. This indicates a manufacturing date of 2021 and dots in the 12 segments indicate the month of manufacture. This is a requirement under BS1970 regulation for manufacture of hot water bottles in the UK. Our image shows a date of 2021 and therefore must no longer be used. Please make sure that everyone you know who uses a hot water bottle checks that theirs is safe, and if not gets it replaced. Do be sure to check the date when purchasing a new bottle, stock can sometimes sit for many months before sale. Do still carefully follow the manufacturer's instructions on safety to avoid a leak or burst for other reasons.
MSE has a comprehensive post on hot water bottles here: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/hot-water-bottle/
Also I am alarmed that a pensioner has to fill 24 pages of data in 30 minutes to get pension credit.
These are things that must change.
Warning - The Dangers of Using an Expired Hot Water Bottle last updated 6.11.24
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