A Kingston man is concerned for the safety of his family after his Whirlpool washing machine was labelled unsafe and a potential fire hazard.

Kevin Carter, a disabled Kingston resident who lives with his family in the town, became worried after he found heating and burn damage on the appliance.

The machine is made by Whirpool, a US multinational that was recently forced to recall hundreds of thousands of units in the UK after acknowledging they were a potential fire risk.

Kevin described his reaction on realising his machine was unsafe:

"We'd been having problems with the door lock on the machine for a while and when I went to replace it, I saw the old one was all burnt up, black and melted," he said.

"I immediately rang the recall line and they said it wasn't on their recall list.

"Eventually customer support sent an engineer to do a safety check, and he said looked like exactly the same problem as the ones that had been recalled."

Surrey Comet: Kevin's faulty Whirlpool washing machine Kevin's faulty Whirlpool washing machine

Kevin, who lives with his two children, said that the engineer sent by Whirlpool told him that a simple repair on the lock might not solve the issue and something similar could happen again.

Earlier this year, Whirlpool announced a far-reaching recall of estimated hundreds of thousands of machines, affecting the WMFG 741 G UK, WMAQG 741 P UK and WMAQC 641 P UK models.

On Sunday (March 1), London Fire Brigade (LFB) paid Kevin a visit and inspected the machine.

Like the engineer, they reportedly told him the issue affecting his machine was the "exactly the same fault" as that which impacted a number of Whirlpool models to spark the recall after some caught fire.

LFB's fire investigation team, the Kingston resident said, logged it as a "fire event".

Kevin told the Comet he was uncomfortable living with a potential fire hazard and that Whirlpool's offer of a free repair on his current model was not good enough.

"I feel like I'm hitting my head against a brick wall with them," he said.

"In the meantime I've got a washing machine I can't use and I'm disabled.

"I'm on disability benefits and can't afford to just buy a new one. We're struggling and have to get our washing done with others whenever we can.

"If it happens again with my two children in the house, and me unable to get out or anything like that...who knows what's going to happen?"

Since Kevin initially spoke with the Comet, Whirlpool have been back in touch with him and say they are examining his case specifically, with a view to now replacing his current model. 

A spokesperson for Whirlpool sent the following statement in response to a request from the Comet: 

"The safety of our customers is our top priority and we regret the inconvenience caused to Mr Carter.

"Whilst investigations regarding the appliance in question are ongoing, we have contacted Mr Carter to arrange a convenient date for a replacement machine to be delivered to him."