According to the Western Gazette, the home's occupant, Josh Cappell, was told that he could use the affected appliance as long as it was not left unsupervised while being used. The appliance in question was a Hotpoint model; when the potential safety issue came to light, Indesit stated that the fault related to the large air-vented dryer and condensing dryer sold under the brand names Hotpoint, Indesit and Creda between April 2004 and October 2015.

“We investigate all reported incidents thoroughly,” a spokesperon for Indesit told KBBDaily.com. “Our customer care team has spoken with Mr Cappell to discuss his situation. However, until we have completed the investigation into Mr Cappell’s case, we are unable to comment further.”

A BBC report earlier this week stated that a family in Guildford has been left homeless after a fire started in their Indesit tumble dryer.

According to Indesit, nearly 70,000 customer issues relating to the recall had been resolved as of mid-January. The company said last month that it had contacted 1.5 million consumers to date and expected to contact a further 1.8 million by 1st February.

The wait time for a free repair of the affected tumble dryers was, as of mid-January, many weeks, according to Indesit, “given the large number of dryers affected”. The company also stated that consumers with affected products that are more than two years old are now being offered the additional option of a new product purchase at a discounted price, which is somewhat derisory given the serious nature of the recall and fire safety as yet again Indesit appear to be putting profit before consumers safety.