Vape shops and fire safety concerns

[brad465]

This stuff isn’t hard. If I got a loan from a bank I bet you they would make sure I had a verifiable address.

Around half a million cases of identity fraud in banking each year.

Perhaps if the government had promoted mandatory digital ID for business owners above everyone in order to work, they wouldn't have had to roll back on the scheme as much as they did.

 

[Lewisham2221]

The BBC website has an interview with 'the man with the fire extinguisher' who says that the fire was under the counter where multiple chargers were in use. Other than shop staff that would appear to be the best we can hope for at this stage.

BBC article here

Glasgow Times has:

Among those who tried to help was Lamin Kongira, 42, who was passing by and saw smoke coming from the shop.

He was walking past when he saw the smoke and someone running out of the shop.

He went inside to see what was happening and saw a fire behind the counter, possibly coming from a socket box.

Both make it sound more likely that the cause of the fire is an electrical/wiring fault, an overloaded extension lead, or a faulty charger plug.

Once the premises is already on fire, is a "genuine" lithium battery likely to react any differently than a "dodgy" lithium battery?

 

[Bishops]

Can you point me to where the fire service have confirmed that vapes are responsible for starting the fire? For the spread of the fire? That there vapes were even present in any significant quantity? So far all we actually know is that there was a fire and it appears to have originated in a shop which at least one member of the public referred to as a "vape shop" when calling the fire brigade to report the fire.

Very much so - this report from someone who was there was blaming a bank of chargers of some sort

Passer-by tried to tackle Glasgow vape shop fire which led to inferno

Lamin Kongira told BBC Scotland News he had been walking past when a shopkeeper ran out saying "fire, fire".

www.bbc.co.uk

Lamin Kongira told BBC Scotland News he had been walking past when a shopkeeper ran out saying "fire, fire".

"I ran into the shop and I saw a small fire under the counter," he said.

Lamin said there was an adapter charging system - full of chargers - and that's where the fire was.

 

[edwin_m]

Multiple examples of that. A simple solution perhaps being to send a good old fashioned physical letter to the registered address and await a written response BEFORE registering the company and allowing it to trade.

Which is how HMRC operates as it happens, for say VAT registration. For Companies House, for a long time they would let you register online for cheap, then if you actually wanted to file returns you needed a code sent in the post. But if you fancy just... not filing returns, then it's no issue not having the code sent in the post! That's what they're trying to change, albeit I'm not sure how well they're doing it.

In 2022 I got a letter saying a business had been registered to my address and with my name as part of the business name. I reported it to Action Fraud and as far as I know I managed to de-register it before any harm was done.

 

[deerokus]

This article talks about the specific shop, but also the very lax enforcement of fire safety laws. Seems obvious to me that businesses should be subject to spot fire safety inspections but that costs money no one will be willing to spend.

Revealed: Shop where Glasgow fire started had not registered to sell vapes or paid business taxes

A Ferret investigation has found there was no registration to sell vapes at the Union Street premises in Glasgow where a major fire started - and we can reveal the name of the company behind the shop.

www.theferret.scot

 

[AndrewE]

Triggered by a post in the Glasgow Central Fire thread https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/fire-at-glasgow-central-08-03-26.299500/page-12#post-7708581

Very interesting and eye-opening article about the shop where it started and fire safety enforcement generally.

Revealed: Shop where Glasgow fire started had not registered to sell vapes or paid business taxes

A Ferret investigation has found there was no registration to sell vapes at the Union Street premises in Glasgow where a major fire started - and we can reveal the name of the company behind the shop.

www.theferret.scot

I thought it worth starting another one.

I have felt for a while that we should have something like the Italian Guardia di Finanza, read https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guardia_di_Finanza for the breadth of their remit. Zero tolerance of frauds would give us healthier town centres and possibly better public finances too...

There is a continuous stream of "businesses" going bust or being put into administration and very often it seems that the biggest debt is to the taxman (i.e. the rest of us.) Often it seems to be that National Insurance (taken from their employees if there are any) hasn't been paid, again jeopardising other people's futures.
Companies' House is finally being prodded into doing something (probably a token something) about fraudulent company registrations, but nobody seems to care about accounts not being produced for years etc., which allows them to keep trading while piling up more debts, damaging their suppliers while undercutting good businesses.

I would imagine that a Police force focussed on business compliance would probably be a lot more than just cost-effective...

 

[edwin_m]

Glasgow Times has:

Both make it sound more likely that the cause of the fire is an electrical/wiring fault, an overloaded extension lead, or a faulty charger plug.

Once the premises is already on fire, is a "genuine" lithium battery likely to react any differently than a "dodgy" lithium battery?

It's common for lithium battery fires to start during charging, especially if the charger is also "dodgy".

A charger that supplies a couple of amps at 5 volts is only drawing a few milliamps at 240V, so getting anywhere near overloading a 13 amp socket would need several hundred of them - unless they've also plugged in a heater or two.

 

[RichardAsh1981]

A charger that supplies a couple of amps at 5 volts is only drawing a few milliamps at 240V, so getting anywhere near overloading a 13 amp socket would need several hundred of them - unless they've also plugged in a heater or two.

On the other hand plenty of cheap and poorly made / designed chargers go up in smoke (hopefully blowing a fuse, but do they even have one?), so a large number of chargers crammed together has fire risks of its own.

 

[deerokus]

The shop was also selling all kinds of tat so it's entirely possible there were much larger batteries than just vapes in there.

 

[styles]

The shop was also selling all kinds of tat so it's entirely possible there were much larger batteries than just vapes in there.

Had some nice bongs in the front window. Also pictures of rifles under the counter. Classy.

 

[Lewisham2221]

It's common for lithium battery fires to start during charging, especially if the charger is also "dodgy".

A charger that supplies a couple of amps at 5 volts is only drawing a few milliamps at 240V, so getting anywhere near overloading a 13 amp socket would need several hundred of them - unless they've also plugged in a heater or two.

Just seen an interview with Lamin on the main ITV news - he seems to very clearly suggest that the fire he was trying to extinguish was coming from a charger in an allegedly overloaded extension lead/socket. (Can't find anything to link to, sorry)

 

[Baxenden Bank]

This article talks about the specific shop, but also the very lax enforcement of fire safety laws. Seems obvious to me that businesses should be subject to spot fire safety inspections but that costs money no one will be willing to spend.

Revealed: Shop where Glasgow fire started had not registered to sell vapes or paid business taxes

A Ferret investigation has found there was no registration to sell vapes at the Union Street premises in Glasgow where a major fire started - and we can reveal the name of the company behind the shop.

www.theferret.scot

An excellent article, thank you for finding and posting it.

 

[JohnofWessex]

Like

I might add that it would make much more sense for Business Rates to be paid by the owner of the property not the tenants

 

[contrex]

If they had the super-cool uniforms like the Italians, that would be brilliant.

 

[edwin_m]

Just seen an interview with Lamin on the main ITV news - he seems to very clearly suggest that the fire he was trying to extinguish was coming from a charger in an allegedly overloaded extension lead/socket. (Can't find anything to link to, sorry)

If it was an overloaded lead or socket then that would be the part getting hot. If the fire is coming from a charger then that's likely to be where the fault is. This could then start overheating nearby batteries, and there is also the flammable vape liquid to consider.

 

[deerokus]

Had some nice bongs in the front window. Also pictures of rifles under the counter. Classy.

Sure I saw fake labubus in the window the other day. God knows what volatile compounds those were made of

 

[contrex]

...fake labubus...

I thought the war in the Middle East was bad enough, but now this! I really do not know what I shall do.