Battery Fires

AndyBike

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Woosh

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A group of people are looking to sue a bike maker after a fatal fire.

Couple of points

I dont think they've got much chance, as theres probably no way of telling if the owner of the bike adapted it in a way outwith manufacturers instructions, which then led to the fire.


And it kind of smacks of they are using this tragedy to line their own pockets
From the linked article above
They are suing Leon Cycle Ltd for negligence and under the Consumer Protection Act 1987.
The company is well known on this forum as NCM brand bikes and Das Kit.
Senior members of the forum should perhaps check Trustpilot reviews before making recommendations.

leoncycle.co.uk Reviews | Read Customer Service Reviews of leoncycle.co.uk
 
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jamesporritt

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Jul 27, 2021
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Who are these "rogue sellers"? There have to be clear rules for rogues to exist and there are no rules, or are there?
 

Ghost1951

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People of the Chicken Licken tendency might like to remember how flammable a commodity petrol is. We happily coexisted with petrol powered vehicles for a hundred years. Petrol, weight for weight has about fifteen times the energy of gunpowder (*Note) and it is about as easy to set on fire. We all learned not to keep it in the house and to be careful how we handled it. What is wrong with modern people? Too many of them have been brought up as infantalised idiots who can not apparently be expected to take responsibility for what they do. They crave more and more of Strict Nanny's rules and regulations to protect them from their own stupidity.

Handle petrol badly and you know what will happen. Handle batteries badly and the same thing applies. The world now seems to be full of fking idiots as far as I can see.

Note*
Gunpowder 3 MJ per kg. Petrol 43.8 MJ per kg.
 
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matthewslack

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Nov 26, 2021
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An important technical detail highlighted by the coroner was the likelihood of a charger of the wrong voltage being plugged into the battery that ignited.

48V and 36V chargers and batteries with the same connection is an obvious problem that needs to be solved.

Likewise, charging circuitry in the battery that cannot safely handle the wrong input voltage.

Either of these technical measures would have prevented this tragedy, and proper enforced standards are the way to implement them. Sadly, not retrospectively.
 
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Woosh

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People of the Chicken Licken tendency might like to remember how flammable a commodity petrol is. We happily coexisted with petrol powered vehicles for a hundred years. Petrol, weight for weight has about fifteen times the energy of gunpowder (*Note) and it is about as easy to set on fire. We all learned not to keep it in the house and to be careful how we handled it. What is wrong with modern people? Too many of them have been brought up as infantalised idiots who can not apparently be expected to take responsibility for what they do. They crave more and more of Strict Nanny's rules and regulations to protect them from their own stupidity.

Handle petrol badly and you know what will happen. Handle batteries badly and the same thing applies. The world now seems to be full of fking idiots as far as I can see.

Note*
Gunpowder 3 MJ per kg. Petrol 43.8 MJ per kg.
It's not because people are idiots.
Petrol needs a comburant (oxygen) to burn, gunpowder and Lithium-ion batteries don't, they have already got their oxygen source. That's why you can extinguish a petrol (or diesel) fire by starving the fire of oxygen and you can't do same with gunpowder and Lithium Ion batteries.
 

saneagle

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From the linked article above

The company is well known on this forum as NCM brand bikes and Das Kit.
Senior members of the forum should perhaps check Trustpilot reviews before making recommendations.

leoncycle.co.uk Reviews | Read Customer Service Reviews of leoncycle.co.uk
The fire service said that the fire was caused by using the wrong charger. That's nothing to do with Leon Cycles. It's not good for you to cheer this on nor criticise Leon Cycles because the same could happen to any of your bikes. How would you like it if someone sued you, claiming that you were negligent in not fail-safeing your bikes against such a mistake? They will argue that it's like selling a gun without a safety catch, and accidents would be inevitable. Suppose Trading Standards visit you and tell you to recall all the bikes you've sold with a standard charger jack socket, and ask you to compensate the owners. Turkeys voting for Christmas comes to mind.

The NCM brand od ebikes that Leon Cycles sell come from the Leisger factory where the mk1 Oxygen S-Cross bikes were made. Essentially, they're the same bike and very well made. I don't remember anybody complaining about those Oxygen bikes. Nearly all the complaints for Leon Cycles on Trustpilot are about customer service. The bikes themselves probably get no more faults than yours.
 
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Woosh

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The fire service said that the fire was caused by using the wrong charger. That's nothing to do with Leon Cycles. It's not good for you to cheer this on nor criticise Leon Cycles because the same could happen to any of your bikes. How would you like it if someone sued you, claiming that you were negligent in not fail-safeing your bikes against such a mistake? They will argue that it's like selling a gun without a safety catch, and accidents would be inevitable. Suppose Trading Standards visit you and tell you to recall all the bikes you've sold with a standard charger jack socket, and ask you to compensate the owners. Turkeys voting for Christmas comes to mind.
I am not criticising Leon Cycle on account of the fire, that's the job for the plaintiffs' lawyers.
Did you read the trustpilot reviews of Leon Cycle? Read them please then we'll discuss this issue of member recommendations.
 

Peter.Bridge

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Apr 19, 2023
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Quite enlightening the Trust Pilot scores




 
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Ghost1951

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TheGuardian said:
"The 12 survivors involved in the legal action are among 20 men of Bangladeshi heritage who were living in the two-bedroomed flat at the time. They paid £100 cash a week to sleep in bug-infested bunk beds.
They are suing Leon Cycle Ltd for negligence and under the Consumer Protection Act 1987."
Really ?

I have absolutely no sympathy with this action. What has become of this country?

Gutter dwelling lawyers chasing profit will take on anything, and actually trawl the world looking for grievances.

How were they allowed to enter this country?

Do any of them have a legal right to be here?

We have all had those calls telling us we had a problem with someone and offering to give us thousands of pounds of compensation. It is a complete menace to us all. There are people near all of us who will regard the slightest bump in a car as a marvellous payday as they feign whiplash. I know of several cases.

I was in a car a few years ago as a passenger and there was a tiny touch in which the young person driving the car I was in had the most minor of collisions with the car in front at a roundabout. It was nothing. No marks no trauma at all. The other driver was a south Asian woman. A couple of weeks later the driver of the car I was in was handed claims for an absolute fortune in damages. The car which was unmarked had invoices for thousands of pounds of repairs and the other driver which was touched by the Aygo that I was in apparently had twelve thousand pounds of personal injury damage backed up by some shonky tame doctor who had examined her. This is a joke. The tiny Aygo made of the thinest sort of tin-can body work was ummarked and me and the driver of the Aygo felt almost nothing in the supposed 'impact'.... None of this would have happened but for that 1985 act of parliament. It is a horrible development allowing fraud on a massive scale. Pity help you if a visitor to your property so much as slips or trips over his laces on your drive way.
 
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Ghost1951

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One of the very worst mistakes made by Margaret Thatcher and she made a few, was the deregulation of the legal profession in 1985 (The Administration of Justice Act 1985). This allowed the horrible modern trend of all kinds of chancers coming to solicitors or more likely being trawled up by claims management firms employing solicitors so that everybody these days is open to be sued in ridiculous claims.
 
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Az.

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Apr 27, 2022
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I was in a car a few years ago as a passenger and there was a tiny touch in which the young person driving the car I was in had the most minor of collisions with the car in front at a roundabout. It was nothing. No marks no trauma at all. The other driver was a south Asian woman. A couple of weeks later the driver of the car I was in was handed claims for an absolute fortune in damages. The car which was unmarked had invoices for thousands of pounds of repairs and the other driver which was touched by the Aygo that I was in apparently had twelve thousand pounds of personal injury damage backed up by some shonky tame doctor who had examined her. This is a joke.
I guess lesson is: learn to drive a car and always have insurance?
 

Ghost1951

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Jun 2, 2024
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I guess lesson is: learn to drive a car and always have insurance?
Or maybe that insurance companies should stop paying out on obviously fraudulent claims and should fight them and inform the police about fraud.

Nobody was hurt by a touch of bumpers - especially when neither vehicle has any damage. I was in it and I looked at both vehicles. The other vehicle was one of those warlord type pickups. The vehicle i was in was a little tin Aygo. No way was that woman hurt. She was a thief and a fraudster. It is a big problem these days.
 

Az.

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Apr 27, 2022
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Or maybe that insurance companies should stop paying out on obviously fraudulent claims
I am not an expert, but if it is obviously fraudulent then it can be challenged by insurance company or a driver.

As per lawsuit described in Guardian, landlords already pleaded guilty to nine criminal charges so perhaps it has some merit.
 
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AndyBike

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Nov 8, 2020
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Them and these slum dwelling, chancer scum need to be driven into the sea.

How were they allowed to enter this country?

Do any of them have a legal right to be here?
Wow, put away the jackboots mate, that type of comment is a bit strong.
 

Ghost1951

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Jun 2, 2024
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Wow, put away the jackboots mate, that type of comment is a bit strong.
Yawn.....

30,000 illegal migrants have arrived already this year?

Any wonder there are no houses and people in the rental market can't find anywhere to live?

Doing nothing about this will turn this island we live on into a wretched slum in the next fifty years.

As for Jackboots - My father who actually fought the Nazis, (my mother was a radio operator in the ATS) would also wonder why we tolerate the constant illegal invasion and then actually pay to have these people put up in hotels at a cost to you and me of £3.9 BILLION last year alone. But snipe away with your ridiculous Jackboot allusion... Vacuous - much.
 

Az.

Esteemed Pedelecer
Apr 27, 2022
2,042
901
Plymouth
I have nothing but sympathy for victims of the fire. Imagine yourself in a two bedroom flat with twenty other blokes like you. When you think your life is totally miserable - a fire.

Having that said I think some questions should be asked. Coroner concluded fire was caused by faulty battery. I wonder why as in his report we can also read:

"The fire was found to have been caused by a faulty lithium ion e-bike battery which was charging at the time. The e-bike from which the battery came, which was owned by another occupant of the flat, had been heavily modified, notably including a retrofitted additional battery cage and motor. I found on the evidence, which included that of a London Fire Brigade Fire Investigation Officer (whose evidence was in turn informed by input from the Chief Scientific Adviser at the Fire Science Department, who had examined the e-bike and remains of the charger\battery), that the fire started with a faulty lithium ion battery, probably a battery and charger which did not match and carried different voltage ratings, leading to thermal runaway and catastrophic failure of the lithium ion battery. "
 

Woosh

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The e-bike from which the battery came, which was owned by another occupant of the flat, had been heavily modified, notably including a retrofitted additional battery cage and motor.
does it mean that it has two motors?