Banks backs loop cord ban

Hamish Hutchinson • Published 2 Jun 2010 10:35 0 Comments

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Gordon Banks with the Advertiser's petition following the campaign in 2008.

OCHIL MP Gordon Banks has once again called for a ban on loop cord blinds following the findings of a coroners report into the death of two young children within days of each other.

Mr Banks gave his backing to the Advertiser campaign to ban loop cord blinds following the death of Menstrie tot Muireann McLaughlin in February 2008.

A Fatal Accident Inquiry at Alloa Sheriff Court heard that Muireann died in her home after she slipped whilst trying to climb on to a toy box to wave goodbye to her grandmother from an upstairs bedroom window.

Alloa Sheriff David Mackie recommended a ban on loop cord blinds and Mr Banks called on the previous government to take steps to prevent the deaths of more children, and was frustrated by its lack of action on the issue.

Following the deaths of a further two children in separate incidents in Staffordshire in February of this year, the coroner for South Staffordshire has written to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills also calling for a ban on looped blind cords.

Mr Banks insists that in light of the latest coroners report and the previous recommendation from Sheriff Mackie following the FAI into the death of Muireann, the new government must now act.

He told the Advertiser, "One of the things I am intending to do is to write to Vince Cable, or who ever the relevant person is in the Department for Business, to ask them what the position is.

"In light of the latest coroner's report, a coroner's report in 2004 which made similar recommendations and Sheriff Mackie's findings into the death of Muireann McLaughlin, the new government must act.

"I was disappointed by the last government's response to Sheriff Mackie's FAI.

"I pushed them asking what they were going to do to respond to Sheriff Mackie's findings and got told they weren't going to respond at all.

"However, I managed to put enough pressure on them to respond, although it wasn't the response I hoped for."

He went on, "The problem has been identifying whether there has been enough done to prevent these deaths and, quite frankly, there is nowhere near enough being done or these children wouldn't be dying in the way they are. Any solutions haven't been far reaching enough.

"I hope that the new government increases the safety of the product, which shouldn't be responsible for killing children.

"I understand ROSPA have contacted the McLaughlins and I will be contacting ROSPA to find out what they see as their role and hope to bring it to a conclusion.

"But the only conclusion I can see is for looped cord blinds to be banned with another mechanism for operating them put in its place.

"There is no other alternative as other options can fail or be bypassed. The industry needs to get itself moving and needs to take the challenge seriously."

Blinds with loop cords are banned in other countries, including America, Canada and Australia, but millions of people in the UK have them fitted in their homes.

However, any legislation that is passed by the UK Parliament would also need to meet EU regulations, making the process of implementing a ban more complicated.

Mr Banks went on, "It is something which needs to be looked at from a UK and EU perspective. We can't bring in UK regulations which are deemed anti-competitive.

"We have to work with our EU partners to get them to acknowledge that there is an issue.

"Many of them have less awareness of as they have less blinds fitted in their homes.

"In Italy and Spain they have shutters and in Germany blinds are integrated into the window and are operated in a different way. However, there have been deaths in Germany and in Ireland, and there has been a constant trickle of deaths in the UK."

And given the latest call for a ban on loop cords from the Staffordshire coroner, Mr Banks believes the government has little choice but to take notice.

He added, "It isn't only the number of individuals calling for a ban but the offices that they are representing - there is a UK judge in Sheriff Mackie and now coroners.

"It's not just campaigners and, with the greatest respect, parents who are saying this product isn't safe, it is people who are charged with the dispersal of actions to keep the UK safe saying this product is unsafe, something needs to be done and, in the strongest words, loop cord blinds should be banned.

"The government have got to listen to comments from very important people in UK society and if they don't do that it will be to their peril as more children will die unnecessarily."

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