Warning over ‘Hooky’ generators

Trading standards have issued a warning over a generators that have been sold ‘door to door’ by travellers in the district over the past 10 days. The Generators are said to be ‘Chinese copies’ of established brands such as Yamaha and Honda and have been sold by travellers who pose as Reps returning from a…

Written by

David Wimble

Published on

August 4, 2015
News
honda-generator
one of the fake Generators being sold for as little as £150

Trading standards have issued a warning over a generators that have been sold ‘door to door’ by travellers in the district over the past 10 days.
The Generators are said to be ‘Chinese copies’ of established brands such as Yamaha and Honda and have been sold by travellers who pose as Reps returning from a European trade show.
The generators have reportable been sold for anything between £150 and £450 each. However the units do not meet international standards and much of the output is unregulated, so instead of delivering 220 volts some have been delivering up to and over 300 volts! Which potentially damage equipment if plugged into the generators?
As a local electrician pointed out: ‘ if you plug some equipment in that has the correct fuse, then with a bit of luck then at best the fuse will blow, however the way some people deal with a blown fuse, is to put a larger one in… this could lead to possible fires or blown equipment’.
The generators are being sold at less than a quarter of the retail price of the genuine article. And as the saying goes ‘if the deal appears to be too good to be true… the chances are it is!”
The travellers set up camp over the weekend in the car park at Littlestone before SDC officers moved them along, only for them to up camp and move into the Martello car park in Dymchurch.
One local who asked us not to name her told The Looker; “the majority of them are polite and keep themselves to themselves, however some of the teenagers have been very boisterous in and around the town. Whilst I am sure they will move on soon, we have a short period in the summer holidays to make a living here in Dymchurch and if the car park is full with travellers, people will not stop”.
Chairman of Dymchurch Parish Council Roger Wilkins told The Looker:

Cllr Roger Wilkins
Cllr Roger Wilkins

“ The trouble is, they are being a bit crafty, they know that in order for the council to do anything about it, they have to collect number plates and then go to the courts to get an enforcement order, which by the time they have done this they would normally just move on anyway”.
New Romney UkIP Councillor Susie Govett said: “There were no problems with that camp while they were here in Littlestone, but that’s not always the case. The ultimate solution is to provide more places for travellers to stay, easier said than done in the overcrowded South East though.”
Plans for a travellers site have been bought up at the District Council on several occasions in the past, with the district having a ‘duty of care’ the last time it was bought forward the East Rype at Lydd was put forward.
If you are offered a generator by door to door salesmen you are advised to politely refuse.