Hunter Price: Licensed Hot Water Bottles and the Recall

Hunter Price International sold licensed hot water bottles in four children's designs, and they have been recalled. The Office for Product Safety and Standards notice, published on 24 November 2023, says certain batches may pose a burns risk because of a weak joint at the top seam of the bottle¹. Hunter Price advised affected consumers to stop using the item immediately and return it to their nearest store for a full refund¹.

If you have one, stop using it today. Do not fill it, do not warm a bed with it, and do not pass it to anyone else. Put it somewhere out of use until you can take it back to a store. The recall is a recall from end users, which means the bottle is meant to come out of circulation altogether¹.

Hot water bottles are a familiar way to keep warm when the heating is off, and they have a place in a household plan for a power cut or a cold snap. But they can cause serious burns, and the official advice is to fill them with warm water rather than boiling water, to use a cover, and to keep them away from direct skin contact². A bottle with a weak seam is a different order of risk, because the fault is in the bottle itself rather than in how it is used.

Stop using the hot water bottle immediately

The instruction from Hunter Price is direct: affected consumers should stop using the item immediately and return it to their nearest store for a full refund¹. That is the whole of the action required of a household, and it is worth doing before anything else on this page.

The reason for acting at once rather than at the end of the winter is that the hazard is a manufacturing fault, not wear and tear. The notice describes a weak joint at the top seam of the hot water bottle, which is the point where the bottle is sealed and where the stopper sits¹. A joint that is weak can give way when the bottle is filled and the water is hot, and the result is hot water escaping against skin or bedding.

There is no inspection a household can carry out that would make an affected bottle safe. The notice does not describe a test, a batch code to check or a marking to look for; it recalls the product from end users¹. That is different from some recalls, where a maker asks owners to check a number moulded into the product and only certain ones are affected. Here the corrective action is that the product has been recalled from end users, so the bottle should leave the home¹.

If you are relying on hot water bottles for warmth during a power cut, replace the recalled one before the cold weather rather than reaching for it in an emergency. Our guide to heating and cooking without mains power or gas sets out the alternatives for keeping warm when the heating is off, and power cuts covers what to do when the electricity fails.

Why the recall matters: the burns risk

Hot water bottles can cause serious burns, and that is true of any bottle, not only a recalled one³. The recall matters because it adds a fault on top of that everyday risk: certain batches may pose a burns risk due to a weak joint at the top seam¹.

The notice also records that the product does not meet the requirements of the General Product Safety Regulations 2005¹. That is the legal standard consumer products sold in the UK are expected to meet, and a product that falls short of it has been judged unsafe rather than merely imperfect.

Burns from hot water are not a minor matter. The advice from health services is consistent across the UK: fill hot water bottles with warm water, never boiling water, to prevent the risk of scalds or burns⁴. Always use a cover⁵. Avoid placing a hot water bottle directly against your skin, and wrap it in a towel or use a cover instead⁶. Do not use boiling water and do not overfill the bottle⁷. Carefully let the air out of the bottle before putting the stopper in, and make sure the stopper is screwed on tightly³.

Those habits reduce the risk from a sound bottle. They cannot make a bottle with a weak seam safe, because the failure happens at the seam rather than at the stopper or through careless filling. That is why the recall asks for the bottle to come out of use rather than for a change in how it is filled.

Return it to your nearest store

Take the bottle back to your nearest store for a full refund¹. The notice does not ask for a receipt, a form or a postal return; the route it gives is the store counter.

Returns of recalled products follow the same pattern across the notices published by the Office for Product Safety and Standards. Customers are asked to stop using the product immediately and return it to their nearest store, where a full refund will be given⁸. Where a product has been sold through a particular chain, the notice names that chain and its customer services route⁸. For a food recall, the advice is to return the product to the store from where it was bought for a full refund⁹.

A few practical points help the return go smoothly:

• Keep the bottle empty and dry before you take it in, so it travels safely.
• Take the cover too if you have one, so the store can see the product as sold.
• Ask for the refund at the counter and mention the recall notice and its case number, 2311-0157, if you are asked for details¹.
• Check any replacement you consider against the recall notice before you buy, because the four named designs are the ones affected¹.

If the store you bought it from is no longer convenient, the notice's wording is your nearest store rather than the original one, so a branch of the same retailer closer to home should be able to help¹.

Which hot water bottles the recall covers

The recall covers four hot water bottles sold in black Hogwarts, grey print Hogwarts, pink Barbie patch and purple Gabby's Dollhouse designs¹. The notice lists them by name and by item code, which is the surest way to identify one you already own.

The notice records the brand as Hunter Price International, the country of origin as China, and the product type as childcare articles and children's equipment, a hot water bottle¹. It was notified by Local Authority Trading Standards¹.

The designs are licensed children's characters, which is why the product sits in the childcare category. That does not mean the bottles were only sold for children; it means a household with children in it is the likeliest place to find one, perhaps bought as a gift or kept for a child's bed on a cold night. If you bought one for a child, treat the recall as urgent.

Checking a hot water bottle you already own

Start with the design. If your bottle carries one of the four named designs, it is caught by the recall and should go back¹. If it carries a different design, it is not one of the four in this notice, and the recall does not apply to it.

Then check the codes. The item codes in the table above are printed or labelled on the product or its packaging, and matching one confirms the bottle is in the recall¹. If the label has worn away, go by the design and the brand: a Hunter Price International bottle in one of the four designs is the product the notice describes¹.

Some recalls ask owners to check a moulded number. A recall of Boots hot water bottles, for example, asked customers to check the circle on the back of the neck, and if the number moulded in the inner circle was 05 the bottle was affected¹⁰. The Hunter Price notice gives no such test, so do not assume a bottle is clear because a number looks right; the design and the codes are what the notice uses¹.

Keep it out of use until you can return it

Between reading this and getting to a store, the bottle needs to be out of reach. Empty it if it has water in it, let it dry, and put it somewhere that nobody will pick up in a hurry, such as a cupboard rather than a bed or an airing cupboard where it might be grabbed on a cold night.

The pattern in other recalls is the same: owners are recommended to stop using the product immediately and return it to the retailer¹¹. Products recalled from end users are recalled because they should not be in use anywhere, and a bottle left in a drawer is a bottle that can be filled by someone who has not heard the news¹.

If you are short of a hot water bottle while you sort out the return, borrow one from a neighbour rather than using the recalled one, and check that the borrowed bottle is not itself subject to a recall. Our guide to extra help in an emergency covers sources of support for older and medically dependent households who may be relying on hot water bottles for warmth.

If someone in your household has been burned

A burn from hot water needs attention quickly. Cool the burn under cool running water, and do not apply ice, butter or creams; the NHS advice on burns and scalds sets out what to do and when to call for help³.

If clothing is stuck to a burn, do not pull it away. If someone's clothing catches fire, the fire and rescue service advice is to wrap the person in a rug, coat or blanket to smother the flames¹². Stop, drop and roll is the other part of that advice, and it is worth teaching children alongside the rule that hot water bottles are not toys.

Call 999 for a burn that is large, deep, on the face, hands, feet or across a joint, or if the person is a child or an older person. Our guide to first aid at home covers the household kit that helps in the first minutes, and health emergencies explains what to do when medical help is stretched.

Where to get help with the recall

The recall notice itself is the first place to look, and it is published on the government's product safety database under case number 2311-0157¹. It gives the product description, the hazard, the corrective action and the contact route for the recall.

If you are unsure whether your bottle is covered, take it to the store with you and ask at the counter. Retailers handling recalls display point of sale notices in stores selling the product, so staff should recognise the notice¹³. Where a recall has a dedicated page or phone line, the notice gives it; the Hunter Price notice directs consumers to their nearest store¹.

For a product safety concern about any other item in your home, the same database carries recalls and safety reports across the range of household goods, from electric blankets to heaters and camping equipment⁸. Our guide to home emergencies covers fire, carbon monoxide and other household hazards, and getting started sets out how to build a household plan that includes checking kit for recalls before an emergency rather than during one.