A FAMILY of six fled their home after their tumble dryer burst into flames the first time they used it.

The Hotpoint dryer was delivered and installed only hours earlier at the Patel family home in Birkdale Gardens, Deane.

Mrs Hannah Patel, 27, said: “I’m so shocked. You don’t expect something brand new to go up in flames.”

Wednesday evening’s drama was attended by two crews from Bolton Central Fire Station, who spent almost an hour at the scene.

“A fireman told me it definitely wasn’t an electrical fault, it was the machine itself,” said Mrs Patel.

She bought the £250 Hotpoint TCFS83BGP.0 dryer from online supplier Hughes Electrical and had it professionally installed.

“I put a load in and turned it on at about 5.30pm but there was a funny smell so I turned it off.

"I’d already checked that all the packaging and leaflets had been removed from inside the dryer and thought the smell was because it was the first time it had been used.

"I even read the manual from cover to cover just in case it said you weren’t supposed to use the dryer for the first 24 hours after instalment.”

At around 8pm on Wednesday night she tried again.

Mrs Patel said: “After a while my husband could smell burning so he went to check. When he opened the door of the dryer smoke billowed out and then the dryer itself set on fire.”

Mrs Patel and her husband, Anas, grabbed their three-month-old and two-year-old children and fled the house, along with her father and mother-in-law who also live at the address.

“We didn’t even wait to put the children’s coats on, we just wrapped them in blankets, went outside and phoned the fire brigade. I was shaking.

"It’s horrible to think what could have happened if we’d put the machine on and gone to bed. I don’t want Hotpoint to give me a replacement, in fact I don’t want a dryer at all now.”

A spokesman for Whirlpool said: “Our customer services team is in direct contact with the customer regarding next steps.

"We can confirm that one of our engineers has visited the property and we are working to resolve the matter as quickly and efficiently as we can.’’