UK Maclaren owners sue

Once again, Maclaren are in the news this morning, with the BBC covering how a group of UK customers are to sue the company.

UK parents to sue Maclaren

For me I just don't get this, they say that they are not after compensation, just recognition that the problem is not caused by themselves operating the product?

But the only way that this can happen is if they allow the child to put their fingers into the side moulding when they are unfolding the product, surely any responsible parent ensures that their child isn't near a product when unfolded? Surely if they read the instructions on the product? As they would find within most instructions that children should be kept clear of any moving parts, and I'd say the whole product is moving during the unfolding process.

This line gets me:

Dr Tomlinson said: "Mother's back was turned at the time and she didn't see it was quite clearly happening when he was playing with the buggy, and when we examined the buggy the tip of the finger fell out so we were in no doubt that the tip had been amputated in the mechanism of the hinge.

How does a mother have her back to a child that is sitting their with its finger in the moulding? Was she stood there behind the stroller, about to unfold it with her head turned the opposite way to her body, in an un-natural stance, not watching the stroller that she was holding onto about to unfold? As the stroller cannot lacerate or remove the tip of a finger unless it is being operated in the unfolding motion.

I guess from my personal view I just can't see why they think they can lay blame on the product, a product that has been in our UK market place for decades, a product which on its own cannot cause this problem, a product that needs someone to operate it to cause this issue, and only causes the issue if the person operating is not paying attention or has not paid attention to the instruction manual, I guess that times have changed since the stroller was launched, a time when we took responsibility for our actions.

I really feel for Maclaren UK today, as I had put in my previous post about this subject, I guess Maclaren USA really didn't see how their reaction to this would effect the UK market place, and its not just Maclaren UK that could see the shockwaves of this, as I for one have defended cases of this happening in some of my previous employers. As many of the other strollers on the UK market place that are essentially Maclaren copies, many carrying the best known brands, all can cause the same issue if used incorrectly.