Our lawyers are acting on behalf of the Chiem family, whose house, along with all of their possessions, was destroyed by an exploding hoverboard.
The hoverboard had just been taken off charge when it started smoking. Shortly after this the device exploded, bursting into flames.
Three young children were in the house as smoke completely overwhelmed the downstairs. The smoke prevented the children from escaping through the front door and forced them upstairs in to one of the bedrooms, where they stopped smoke from getting in by covering the bottom of the door with towels.
One of the children, 8 year old Karen Chiem, suffered from injuries to her foot. The children’s mother, Thu Tram, returned to the burning house, entering through the front door. She sustained burns to her ear before helping the children escape through the front door.
The family were treated at the Bradford Royal Infirmary after the incident, and were later discharged after being treated for smoke inhalation injuries.
The children continue to have nightmares following the incident and the family’s house has been left uninhabitable, leading them to live with relatives nearby. All of the Chiem’s possessions have been destroyed, including clothing and personal items.
The Chiem family is now seeking to bring the sellers and manufacturers of the hoverboard to account. With our help, we aim to get the family’s life back on track by securing them compensation for their injuries, home damage and lost possessions.
Commenting on life after the events, Thu said: “We have lost our home. Everything was ruined in the fire. For over a month we’ve been living with relatives and we have no idea how long it will take for us to be back at home. It’s turned our lives upside down.
“We thought we bought a reliable product from a trusted retailer and we want to know how something with so much potential to cause this type of devastation was sold to us."
Expert defective product solicitor Matthew Newbould is representing the family. He said: It’s a miracle that no one was killed in this fire. But although the Chiem family were lucky to escape with just minor injuries, they have been left without a home or any possessions and suffering the long-term impact of the fire. We’re now looking to secure them a settlement to help them to rebuild their lives as they try to put this nightmare behind them.
It’s vital that a thorough investigation takes place, not only to provide answers to the Chiem family, but to ensure that the risk of something like this happening to another family is reduced as much as possible. Product safety should be the number one priority but sadly it appears some products in this market have fallen below the acceptable standards."
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