ELDERLY people are being offered the chance to stay safe in their beds thanks to Darlington's trading standards department.
Darlington Borough Council has joined forces with Age Concern to offer elderly people free electric blanket safety checks.
Most fires caused by faulty electric blankets involve blankets that are over ten years old, and there are an estimated 3m of them in use.
Anyone who takes their blanket to Age Concern, Bradbury House, Beaumont Street West, Darlington from today until Friday can have it checked by an engineer.
If a blanket is found to unsafe the council will offer to dispose of it and arrangements have been made with Argos and Winterwarm, a manufacturer, to offer discounts on replacements.
Everyone having a blanket check will receive a safety report from an independent tester of electric blankets.
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