In March I received a notice from the manufacturer Candy instructing me to stop using my 18-month-old tumble dryer because of a safety issue. An engineer arrived within a couple of weeks to fix it and, believing all was well, we resumed using it. On 1 August, I received an urgent alert telling me not only to stop using the dryer but to unplug it. So unsatisfactory were the repairs that it was feared the dryer could catch fire even while idle if plugged in. About 17,000 tumble dryers are affected, including Baumatic, Caple, Haier, Hoover, Lamona, Iberna and Montpellier brands.