Furious father calls on Asda to withdraw glass table after his '˜explodes'

Barry Williams’ £130 glass-top table shattered instantly in the back garden when they had stepped indoors, leaving jagged shards all over the floor.

He said he usually has dinner with his wife and their four young children on the outdoors furniture piece but ‘luckily’ they had dinner inside last night as they were in a rush to get their daughter to a gymnastics class.

His children, Brooke, nine, twins Roxy and Rudy, seven, and Mireya, three, were playing in the garden and sitting around the Asda table when his wife Kerry, 37, called them in for dinner.

Just 60 seconds later they heard the table ‘explode’ in a loud bang, which Mr Williams, 44, said sounded like ‘someone had put a brick through it’.

Pictures show the garden table shattered ‘in a thousand pieces’ and Mr Williams says his family ‘was only one minute from disaster’ and his children could have been seriously injured.

The contract manager, from Drayton in Portsmouth has demanded Asda recall their ‘Miami’ eight-piece patio set’, which he bought last August and is still on sale on its website for £129.

The patio set has made national headlines a number of times in the last few years when they have exploded in hot weather, although Asda deny the heat causes the spontaneous explosions.

Mr Williams said his wife Kerry spent an hour-and-a-half on hold with Asda customer services and still didn’t speak to anyone following the incident.

He said: ‘We were a minute from disaster. I came home from work and because of the hot weather was nice my kids were all out playing in the garden and sitting around the table.

‘We usually have our dinner out there on summer evenings but we were in a rush to get my daughter to gymnastics so we ate inside.

‘Literally one minute later we heard a big explosion, it completely took us by surprise as you can imagine.

‘The table had exploded into a thousand pieces – my first thought was someone put a brick through it.

‘My kids were shocked and are now frightened of the table and to go out in the garden. I’ve had to pick up all the shards and put them in a large bucket with a bag of sand on top so the kids can’t get to them. I looked around a bit online and saw this has happened before in the heat.

‘Usually we have the umbrella up, but because it was windy I put it down so the table was in the sun.’

He added: I want the product to be recalled, it could have seriously hurt my kids and it could happen to someone else. My wife spent an hour-and-a-half on hold to customer services but didn’t speak to anyone at Asda.’

Asda have been approached for a comment but have not yet issued a response. A page on its website says the ‘toughened’ glass is designed to shatter into pieces and says heat does not cause the explosions. It instead suggests the tables which smash instantly are chipped or have damage.

It says: ‘Toughened glass is designed to shatter into lots of tiny pieces when damaged. This is a safety feature to reduce the risk of injury, as it doesn’t form large and jagged shards.

‘Heat from the sun will not cause the glass to shatter. In rare instances, if toughened glass is damaged, for example chips and scratches, it can lead to the glass breaking seemingly of its own accord.

‘Damage to the glass (not always visible) can get worse over time until it reaches a critical point when it may shatter.’