Two-pin plugs – it’s just not British

Hi George – If your parents bought the lamp via Wayfair’s UK website it must comply with The Plugs and Sockets etc. (Safety) Regulations 1994, so supplying it with a two pin plug is not legal. The flexible cable should be gripped securely to prevent wires pulling out of connections.

I suggest you contact Citizens Advice so that this can be reported to Trading Standards.

This lamp looks spindly and seems to be manufactured by Bulb Attack in Spain. ” The Bulb Attack custom lighting concept has been developed by a group of creative people who believe in the power of simple and functional design. The Bulb Attack aim is to manufacture beautiful, hand-decorated and hand-assembled products capable of enhancing both modern and vintage interiors. Bulb Attack carefully select suppliers to make sure that fittings are safe and made from top-quality components of European origin.”. That probably explains the European plug that Wayfair should have not supplied.

Citizen’s Advice should pass it on to Trading Standards but they are unlikely to take action unless there are many complaints. You could send an email to the Office for Product Safety and Standards I would complain to Wayfair about the quality (it was not cheap) and point out they are breaking the law by failing to meet the Plug and socket regulations. I would also complain to Bulb Attack. Nothing lost by a couple of emails.

This illustrates the danger of buying unseen products online; had this been seen in a shop the quality would have been apparent. Just send this back would be my advice. It breaks the law and fails the requirements of the Consumer Rights Act by the sound of it.

I agree; I suggest your parents send it back while they can get a full refund.

It’s also not as described: “Overall height 13 cm”. Looking at the image I would suggest 130 cm is more likely.

This is an odd one, to be sure. From the Wayfair site::

“Overall Dimensions 13cm H x 31cm W x 31cm D
Shade 13cm H x 50cm W x 50cm D
Base 1cm H x 31cm W x 31cm D”

You certainly need to demand a full refund.

Errors on websites are quite common. For example the Which? website has for the past year shown the dimensions of my compact camera as:
Width 57 cm
Height 95 cm
Depth 24 cm

It’s important that potentially unsafe goods are reported and not just returned. I’ve seen online reviews that have identified dangerous electrical and given details of the problem but they have been given five star reviews and remained on sale. Many people do not spot the risks. I have only once seen mention of the Plugs & Sockets regulations in reviews of goods with the wrong plug.

Wow, that’s a big camera 🙂

Maybe it’s a Tardis camera.

Hi PatChatte,

It is illegal for Amazon to sell products with a 2-pin plug and they will try and sort it out for you if you contact them although it might not be the solution you want. When products are unavailable in the UK, they get them sent from elsewhere in Europe without checking the electrics which is what the did to me when the only monitors available were in Italy with 2-pin plugs and I ended up with 2 Italian monitors.

Is the lead part of the beauty product or a separate lead that is plugged in? If the lead is separate, you could try talking to the manufacturer and asking them for a UK plug which is what I did.

Again, if the lead is separate, Amazon might tell you to buy one from their website and they will reimburse you as they suggested to me. I declined as that could invalidate the warranty to use the wrong lead with the product.

It also depends upon whether it was sold by Amazon or came through one of their market place traders. In the latter case, at the moment, Amazon have no legal responsibility.

PatChatte, do you know whether this was from Amazon direct and do you recognise whether a product comes through their market place with no Amazon responsibility? It would be interesting if Which? ran a survey to see how many knew the difference, and the implications. I might be on my own…..

Hi PatChatte – If you bought from Amazon UK, please return the product and make it clear that you are doing this because it does not comply with the requirements of The Plugs and Sockets etc. (Safety) Regulations 1994.

Whether using an adapter is a safe solution would depend on both the product and the adapter, so it’s not worth taking the risk.

I suspect Alfa is right about why products intended for the European market land up in the UK, but many companies seem to comply with the regulations.

On the web site the “Sold By” is the company and the “Fulfilled by” is Amazon so I’m guessing that means the latter case, thereby absolving Amazon? Like I said, I’m a novice at internet shopping and although I know it’s worded like that for a reason, I don’t know what the reason is. So, yes, that survey might be worth running

“Fulfilled by” is explained on the Amazon website: “Items “Fulfilled by Amazon” are sold by a third party Seller, but dispatched to you from an Amazon Fulfilment Centre.” https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201910460

Which? has reported that online marketplaces including Amazon are selling dangerous and counterfeit products. Nevertheless, Amazon have an efficient returns service and I don’t think you will have difficulty in getting your money back.

You are right PatChatte. I wonder how many people realise that the shelter of UK regulations is then removed. It is a bad situation that must be changed.

As wavechange said you could try goodwill from Amazon but the other issue is whether you have bought a genuine product that you know to be safe, and from where it originated. If it is a genuine safe product from a reputable source then you could have a UK plug fitted.

Amazon provides advice on plugs for customers: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=202054860

With the exception of electric shavers and toothbrushes product, plugs must comply with BS 1363, which is the familiar UK three pin plug fitted with a fuse. There is an invitation to contact Amazon if you believe that a plug is unsafe or defective.

Until recently it was possible, when choosing products from the large number offered on the Amazon website, to select those that were “sold and dispatched by Amazon”. That filtering facility has now gone although the seller is still identified on the particular product page. It remains possible to narrow down the choice on the shop window pages by clicking on the box marked “Free UK delivery by Amazon” which eliminates all those where Amazon neither sells nor delivers the item, but that still leaves many where Amazon has no responsibility for the consumer’s rights in the event of a problem. To help select products for which Amazon is also the seller it can be useful to open any product page in the chosen category and scroll down to the “Compare with similar items” box which shows half a dozen similar products and gives the seller’s name in each case [together with the price and star rating]. Clicking on the seller’s name then shows the full business name and other details. This can help if you want to buy from a UK or EU supplier but don’t be fooled by trading names that incorporate “UK” or “EU” in the business name – look at the full details because they can still originate in the Far East.

Buying established UK or EU branded products can be a reliable means of getting good customer service as the manufacturer is in the background and might help if there is a denial of consumer rights, but this does not mean the items are made in Europe. Unfortunately, for many categories, it is difficult to find products that are not made in and sent from countries on the other side of the world, but if they carry a reputable brand name it is likely they will be well made and quality assured. Some brands from Asia do have a good reputation and can be bought with confidence if the product is a genuine, not counterfeit, article.

As Wavechange has said, while Amazon does not take responsibility for product quality – especially safety and compliance – it will help customers who have bought from one of their marketplace traders and wish to return a purchase.

It will be interesting to see how quickly trade returns to high street stores and other reputable on-line outlets when the present difficulties are behind us. Every time one major retailer collapses it does give some hope to the remainder still standing but the omens are not good.

There’s another important point here. If such a beauty product is one which heats up, like a hair straightener or a styling wand for example, then there’s a danger that it could possibly dangerously overheat if used on our mains supply which although widely advertised as 230 volts, supposedly “harmonised” with the eu, a lot of our mains supplies are actually 240 volts and a lot of theirs on the continent are only 220 volts, a small difference perhaps but seriously significant with appliances heated directly from the mains, and of course the same is also true with things like hair dryers too which can seriously and possibly dangerously overheat if they’re only 220 volt rated but used on 240 volts, the same is true for any mains heating elements, like in things like kettles or coffee makers for instance, so always carefully check the labels for the correct voltage rating, if it says 220 volt or less it’s not safe here if it’s a heating device of any kind. But a lot of electronic devices are usually more tolerant of the voltage difference without causing problems, but again always check the rating label, which are often far too tiny to read these days, even with reading glasses on so you often need a good magnifier as well.

My understanding is that across Europe the mains voltage has for years been 230V nominal with permissible variation of -6% to +10%, thus allowing the voltage to vary between 216 V to 253 V. I assume that products incorporating heaters are designed and tested to tolerate these variations safely. I hope so. As you say, electronics can be designed to cope with different voltages.

EU voltage harmonisation was a fudge that avoided massive changes to the electrical infrastructure. European voltage was 220, UK 240, so they settled on 230v, and adjusted the allowable voltage tolerances so nothing needed to change. Hence, in the UK, instead of a range of (230) +/- 6% (226 – 244) we used (230) -6%+10% (226 – 253). Essentially this allowed our “real” voltage of 240+/-6% to meet the requirements.

Safety standards take this voltage range into account.

You may well be right, but just be aware anyway when buying anything like a new immersion heater element for instance, if you still use such a thing. I got one to use as a back up for when either of my instantaneous water heaters fail. And I made sure it was rated at 240 volt, not 230 as my mains voltage here whenever I’ve measured it has always been 240, and if you use a 3kW, 230 volt element at 240 volts it would consume something like 3.75 kW and cost more to run and get a bit too hot and strain it’s insulation a bit more. So I don’t think our mains voltage is likely to be lowered any time soon as then surely both the energy suppliers and the appliance manufacturers would lose out, it’s just like the situation with sugary drinks, they won’t be got rid of because then the sugar suppliers and dentists would lose out, so it’s quite possible that 230 volt heating elements will become more common. And most motorised appliances like power tools shouldn’t be too badly affected, anything with an induction motor running almost continuously like fridges and freezers might have their compressors run a bit warmer. I think things like cheap tatty chinese light bulbs will blow faster, mine certainly do, and I’ve still got some old european made compact fluorescent bulbs which still work fine.

It is years since harmonisation of mains voltages in Europe took place and I have not seen evidence of an actual increase in mains voltage or premature failure of compressors which, under normal circumstances, do not run continuously for long periods. I’ve had two Russell Hobbs kettles in recent years (faulty lid mechanism) but the heaters are still working.

An immersion heater will use more power if the voltages is near the maximum permissible but will heat the water faster, so there will be little difference in the cost. The lives of halogen and older incandescent bulbs are undoubtedly reduced at higher voltages, one incentive to switch to low energy lighting. All the LED bulbs I’ve bought for my present home are still working after more than five years. Not everyone has been so lucky.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/988612/2021-05-21-PSD-unsafe-product-report-week-21-v1.pdf
According to this, the product was intercepted by Local Trading Standards at the border and destroyed. The two other products listed that day as failing because they were dangerous were removed at the border by OPSS and TS, both destined for Amazon Marketplace. It will be worth looking to see how often such products are found before they can cause harm, and who was importing them.

Jack – Since Amazon has supplied a non-compliant plug for use in the UK I suggest you contact their customer services and ask them to provide a safe and compliant lead to connect the blower to a 13A mains socket.

It is not clear from your comment exactly what set-up Amazon has supplied and what you would need in order to make a safe and reliable connexion to your electricity supply, bearing in mind that this is a garden product.

Without more detailed information I do not think it would be appropriate to recommend a particular solution.

I’m glad you’ve brought that issue up about the need for fuses in plugs. Some time ago I encountered some character in the netherlands on you tube trying to tell me that their system over there is somehow “far safer” than our ring main system and that only the UK would be “stupid” enough to use such a system etc. Well at least our system has fused plugs which provides essential secondary protection just before the step down in cross sectional area of the conductors involved, from the hard wiring to the socket to the flex from the plug, which in my opinion makes our system far safer. And I’ve been over there to the netherlands and to belgium and their plug system in my opinion is dreadfully dangerous as not only do they have no fuse in their plugs as they use the “shuko” type plugs which not only have no fuse but are also reversible and the earth is not connected by a longer pin like ours and they can’t even make up their minds about the rating, which is often labelled as somewhere between 10 and 16 amps. Whereas our system not only has fused plugs but is also thoroughly polarised so is non reversible and has a longer earth pin which always engages first and disengages last and our plugs are rated at a fixed 13 amps. So that in my opinion makes our system far superior and far safer. And far too many other countries around the world don’t have fused plugs either, only a few use the same as ours, I believe kenya in africa is one such country based on what I’ve been told by a friend of mine who has been over there a few times in the recent past.

This list of countries using the UK standard for domestic power supplies and three-pin 13 Amp plugs and sockets might not be exhaustive but it shows how widespread they are: Eire, Sri Lanka, Kuwait, Bahrain, UAE, Qatar, Yemen, Oman, Cyprus, Malta, Gibraltar, Botswana, Ghana, Hong Kong, Jordan, Macau, Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Iraq, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. This is a remaining indicator of both our colonial past and spheres of influence.

There is a link on this page that shows the countries that currently use the UK plug: https://www.worldstandards.eu/electricity/plugs-and-sockets/g/

On this page there is a video showing how easy it is to plug a 2.5 amp Europlug directly into a mains socket. This is dangerous.

Thanks, Wavechange.

It seems that apart from Eire, Cyprus, Gibraltar and the Falkland Islands , Type G states have been off my travel itineraries.

I reckon the biggest step forward in this and other countries was to require products to be fitted with a plug, John. I had seen inappropriate plugs before we had internet trading but the ability to import products has provided far more opportunities.

This website may be of interest to anyone interested in BS1363 plugs: https://www.plugsocketmuseum.nl/British1.html Images 24 and 25 show a ‘plug key’ that makes it easy to insert a 2.5 amp Europlug into most sockets without using a tool to defeat the shutter mechanism on most sockets. Thankfully these dangerous products are not sold by UK retailers, as far as I know.

For those like me with a curious interest in obscure subjects that is a fascinating website. I still have some electrical apparatus with the older [pre-1984] MK plugs without sleeves on the line and neutral pins.

When waiting on London UndergrounD platforms I have noticed the wall sockets for use by cleaners and technicians wherein the hole for the earth pin is horizontal and for the two other pins vertical. This is obviously to prevent misuse by passengers or contractors plugging in their own equipment and devices and drawing current. It has been like that for many years. The same arrangement was used for the power sockets provided on national rail trains but there are now standard 13A sockets adjacent to the seats on all the latest rolling stock and they have been retrofitted to many other coaches for use with laptops and phone chargers.

This type of socket is described here, John: http://www.plugsocketmuseum.nl/British2.html

Although MK is rightly acknowledged with being a leader in designing safe products they did produce some lemons and the early MK Safetyplug is (in my opinion) one of them. It dispensed with the need for a cable-grip and screws to retain the cable sheath by providing two angled pieces of hard plastic to do do the job. The problem was that it was hard to force the sheath between these pieces of plastic, often resulting in the three coloured cables hanging below the plug. Modern flexible cables have thinner and tougher sheaths but not when the ‘Safetyplug’ was introduced.

MK also introduced the idea of cutting the conductors to the same length when fitting a plug and provided instructions with each plug. That’s great but the Earth conductor should always be longest so that it is the last to break free if the cable is pulled out of the plug. Sometimes we need protection from innovation.

What is curious about having an interest in obscure subjects?

Edit: This video by John Ward explains (5:20) the ‘Walsall Gauge” variant of the UK mains plug: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bk4ORXrz_l8&list=PLVsHvs2SuqmqmLhfKBE-euYeL5ISdIl2h&index=9

Perhaps that’s where the cartoonists get their images of sockets from, from the london underground. I’ve often noticed in many a UK based cartoon how the sockets are drawn with the pin holes in a different orientation, often with them all vertical. And if you like the more obscure electrical contraptions, how about the theremin which is a device which makes weird sounds by using two high frequency oscillators, one of fixed frequency and the other varied by waving your hand near an aerial wired to it so it then produces an audible difference frequency, or heterodyne which varies in pitch as you move your hands near the aerial, at least I think that’s how it works. And such gadgets were often used to make sound effects for early sci-fi and horror movies. And you can now get kits to make your own such devices.

I’ve not made one but there was a circuit for a theremin in one of the electronic magazines in the 70s. Maybe we could have a horror sound effect thinking about the possible outcome of using a dodgy plug.

Maybe the Danish sockets look happiest.

And south africa use a plug that looks a lot like our old 15 amp round pin plug, and I bet it’s the same one. And there’s a list of the various different electrical systems in use around the world on wikipedia along with details of the various plugs and sockets used. And this brings up another danger to note. Some parts of the world still use the deadly IT supply system where the supply is not earthed at the substations and which is definitely NOT safe to use with any appliance needing an earth. Something to think about if you’re the more adventurous type who likes travelling to the less popular and more obscure places around the world. I think it’s generally not a good idea to take any kind of class 1 device abroad anyway just in case there’s no adequate earthing available or else your adapter doesn’t provide for it.

Amazon provides clear information for its traders demonstrating that the company is aware of the regulations: https://sellercentral-europe.amazon.com/gp/help/external/201416530?language=en_GB&ref=efph_201416530_cont_G201744010 If a product does not have a UK plug the company is obliged to use a converter plug that encloses the non-UK plug. It is not acceptable to provide a loose adaptor.

BEWARE! If the scanner is made for US use then it will not only have the wrong plug, but it will also be made for use at 120 volts, 60 hertz, and therefore could fail rather dangerously and possibly catch fire rather quickly if it was plugged into our UK mains, which of course is 240 volts, 50 hertz. So this is something to be aware of when buying from non UK sources, even when they have a UK department, like amazon or ebay etc. And canada as well as the US also have the lower mains voltage, as do japan and some latin american states too and the caribean and possibly elsewhere, so always check up on mains requirements if buying mains powered stuff from non UK suppliers, there’s much more than plugs involved, believe me! And with some appliances the mains frequency is important too.

Thanks Crusader. I forgot to mention this. Some small electrical items come with a power adaptor that accepts 100 -250V and 50/60Hz but if not the scanner is likely to go bang.

I suggest buying from a UK supplier that complies with UK regulations.

You can of course buy step down transformers here in the UK which are designed to operate US appliances over here and they usually come fitted with US type sockets fitted, but first make sure you get one with adequate wattage, a scanner shouldn’t use much, but some things do. Also there’s another risk with UK-US step down transformers and that is that a lot of them are actually not a proper transformer but only what’s known as an “autotransformer” which is basically little more than a tapped choke, a single winding tapped at 120 volts or so, and it’s possible for the lower part of the winding to fail and lose it’s continuity and in doing so cause the output to rise up to the full 240 volts, and that’s more likely to happen if the transformer is run too close to it’s maximum rating so beware. Unfortunately it’s well expensive to make them as a proper isolating transformer with two separate windings as is the case with the yellow site transformers which are made for contractors to safely use electric tools on work sites, and they’re a much safer option but they’re heavy and expensive, but much safer, and they also use a different connector for their output so you would need to find or make an adaptor and I have such an adaptor which I made but of course not everyone is electrically competent. And another danger in this situation is the rather dodgy and dangerous electronic “step down” devices which once existed here in the UK, I don’t know if there’s any still on sale or if they’re banned from sale and if not they should be as they’re far more likely to fail dangerously as they don’t have a transformer at all but only some electronic components to supposedly step down the voltage but in reality they only work like a sort of dimmer switch which chops up the current and can fail to a shorted condition and once again cause the full voltage and current to appear on the output with possible deadly consequences, plus the fact that the chopped current is totally unsuitable for many appliances. And also with AC adapters there’s a whole multitude of different connectors in use and it can be confusing finding the right one, plus some appliances working from low voltage DC use different polarity and if you don’t get it right first time you can totally write off a new appliance and in doing so also kiss goodbye to your warranty! So anything needing such an adapter should have the right one supplied with it with a UK plug and be safe on our mains voltage and made to our standards. Anything less should be illegal.

The regulations do not allow products supplied with a non-UK plug to be supplied with an adaptor. The only permitted solution is a ‘converter plug’ that encloses the non-UK plug and can only be removed by a tool, and this must be fitted rather than loose in the box.

I can think of a couple of reasons:

:: The adaptor could be removed and used for unsuitable purposes.

:: If the adaptor is removed then it’s no different from the product being supplied with the wrong plug. I’ve seen examples of 2.5 amp Europlugs forced into 13 amp mains sockets. The only protection is the 32 amp breaker or 30 amp fuse at the distribution board.

I’m sure you know what is safe, Crusader, but the majority of people are not electrically competent – as you have said.