Shock as Nokia mobile phone melts

A taxi driver has called for Nokia 6280 mobile phones to be recalled after the one he bought melted soon after he turned it on.

David Crayford from Cheltenham said thick white smoke started fizzing and pumping out of the phone. The phone was so hot that it then melted on one side.

He said: "If my phone has gone up like that, who's to say another might not do exactly the same?"

An investigation by Nokia found the battery was damaged.

Store evacuated

Mr Crayford had taken the phone to Advanced Mobile in Gloucester to purchase a car-kit so he could use it in his taxi.

"I put it on the counter and had some photos and songs transferred to the phone using the Bluetooth set - which I've been told wasn't the cause of the smoke.

"I've since been told it could have been a chemical reaction in the battery. It was red hot. It flooded the store with smoke."

The store then had to be evacuated.

"They should recall the product. If I hadn't gone to the store first I could have been a couple of hours down the road in the car, or even on the motorway.

"If it started smoking then, there could have been a serious accident. Or if it was in my pocket or against my ear I could have been badly burned."

He said trading standards told him this had never happened before.

A spokesman for Nokia said the battery had suffered severe mechanical stress conducive with twisting.