Illustration only, not a real case: a pushchair’s folding latch gives way during ordinary use and the child in the seat is injured. A separate statute can apply to a defective product that causes injury or damage. This guide reads Part 1 of the Consumer Protection Act 1987 (sections 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7, current text on legislation.gov.uk, which shows it extending to the whole of the UK) and section 11A of the Limitation Act 1980, on 5 November 2026. Neither mentions prams or pushchairs, so the examples here are illustrations of how the wording works. Remedies for a faulty product under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 are not covered. General information, not legal advice.
Who can be held liable
Section 2 says that where damage is caused wholly or partly by a defect in a product, the following are liable for it:
- the producer of the product;
- anyone who, by putting a name or trade mark on the product, has held himself out to be the producer; and
- anyone who imported the product into the United Kingdom in order, in the course of business, to supply it to another.
A shop that only sold the product is not named in that list. Section 2(3) makes a supplier liable if three conditions are met: the injured person asked the supplier to identify one or more of the persons above; the request was made within a reasonable period after the damage and at a time when the person asking could not reasonably identify them all; and the supplier failed, within a reasonable period, either to comply or to name whoever supplied the product to it. Where more than one person is liable for the same damage, liability is joint and several, and section 2(6) leaves other liability untouched.
What counts as a “defect”
Under section 3, a product is defective if its safety is not such as persons generally are entitled to expect. All the circumstances are taken into account, and the section names three:
- how and for what purposes the product was marketed, its get-up, any mark on it, and any instructions or warnings about doing or not doing something with it;
- what might reasonably be expected to be done with it; and
- the time when the producer supplied it to another.
The section adds that a defect is not to be inferred from the fact alone that a product supplied later has greater safety. For a pram, instructions and warnings, such as those in a manual or on a label, would be among the circumstances the section mentions; the statute does not say what weight any particular warning carries.
What kind of damage is covered
Section 5 defines damage as death or personal injury, or loss of or damage to any property including land, with limits:
- no liability for damage to the defective product itself, or to a product supplied with it that has the defective product built in;
- no liability for property that is not ordinarily intended for private use, occupation or consumption, or that the person suffering the loss did not intend mainly for private use; and
- no damages for loss of or damage to property if the amount, apart from interest, does not exceed £275.
Defences the Act lists
Section 4 gives six defences. They include that the defect is attributable to compliance with a requirement under an enactment; that the person proceeded against never supplied the product to another; that the defect did not exist at the relevant time; and that the state of scientific and technical knowledge at the relevant time was not such that a producer of products of that description might be expected to have discovered it. Another covers a component defect wholly attributable to the design of the product it was built into or to that maker’s instructions. A further defence covers a supply made otherwise than in the course of the person’s business, where section 2(2) does not apply to that person or applies only because of things done otherwise than with a view to profit. The “relevant time” is, for a producer, importer or own-brander, the time it supplied the product to another.
Small print cannot take the right away
Section 7 says liability under Part 1 to a person who has suffered damage, or to a dependant or relative of that person, cannot be limited or excluded by any contract term, notice or other provision. A line in a manual or in a shop’s terms that purports to do so does not limit this statute, according to that section.
The clock: three years and ten years
Section 11A of the Limitation Act 1980 applies to actions for damages under Part 1. For personal injury or property damage, an action may not be brought after three years from the later of the date the cause of action accrued and the date of knowledge of the injured person (for property, of the claimant). Separately, no action may be brought after ten years from the relevant time, and that ten-year period extinguishes the right of action whether or not it had accrued. The definition of “date of knowledge” sits in another section, which was not read. The extent shown on legislation.gov.uk for the Limitation Act 1980 is England, Wales and Northern Ireland; the time limit in Scotland was not read.
The bottom line
Part 1 of the Consumer Protection Act 1987 makes the producer, an own-brander and an importer liable for damage caused wholly or partly by a defect, meaning safety not such as persons generally are entitled to expect, and makes a supplier liable if the three conditions in section 2(3) are met, including a failure to identify them when asked within a reasonable period. It covers death, personal injury and certain property loss, with a £275 floor on property claims, lists six defences, and says contract terms and notices cannot exclude the liability. Section 11A of the Limitation Act 1980 sets three-year and ten-year limits for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, while the Scottish position was not read. Neither statute names prams, and other routes, such as remedies under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, are separate.
Sources
- Consumer Protection Act 1987, Part 1 (Product Liability), sections 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7, current revised text, read 5 November 2026 (legislation.gov.uk)
- Limitation Act 1980, section 11A (Actions in respect of defective products), current revised text, read 5 November 2026 (legislation.gov.uk)