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Some cheap Christmas lights available on popular sites such as Amazon and eBay cannot legally be sold in the UK as they are unsafe for the public. Which? found that 10 out of the 12 sets of lights they tested failed to meet safety regulations, leading to a risk of fire or electric shock for customers.

The lights tested could be found at AliExpress, eBay, Amazon and Wish and cost £15 and under.

All four sites said they have removed the products from sale after discovering they were illegal.

There are fears the cost of living crisis could force consumers to purchase cheaper products, however they can come with risks.

One set of fairy LED string lights, which cost £13 on Wish, were so poorly made they had problems with the cable, the control box and the plug.

Such issues could have led to a fire or electrocuted anyone who tried to use them.

According to Sky: “The build quality was so poor that the white control box could easily be pulled apart by a child, exposing accessible live parts.

“Wires could be pulled out by hand with little force.”

Despite the product being marketed as waterproof, Which? said they found no evidence of this claim being true.

In a statement, Wish said: “Product safety is a top priority for Wish, and we have clear policies in place that prohibit the listing or sale of items on our platform that violate local or other applicable laws, regulations, and/or safety standards.

“As soon as we were made aware of these unsafe items being listed on our platform, we took immediate steps to take them down and conduct monitoring over certain other identical merchant listings.”

Another set of lights sold for £13.23 on AliExpress had such poor soldering and a transformer that did not meet the minimum requirements for creepage and clearance distances, which is the space between the live and neutral sections of the circuit board.

This means the lights could give anyone using them an electric shock.

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AliExpress said: “We have reviewed similar product listings to ensure sellers have provided the correct information and paperwork.

“As a third-party marketplace, AliExpress does not take custody of the goods being sold by third party sellers.

“We have policies in place that all our sellers must comply with in order to create a safe shopping environment.”

Sue Davies, head of consumer protection policy at Which?, said: “Cheap Christmas lights could be tempting for many of us trying to save money amid the cost of living crisis – but our latest research shows consumers could be putting themselves in danger due to online marketplaces failing to take safety seriously.

“The government must make online marketplaces legally responsible for dangerous and illegal products sold through their sites so that people are better protected.”

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