Has anyone successfully donated a sofa that doesn’t have a fire label to a charity? We have a very nice leather 2 seater sofa that I can’t seem to be able to give away. It was made by Ashley Manor in Cheshire and was probably quite expensive new. I think it pre-dates the fire label regs. I bought it from ebay about 8 years ago. It’s in great condition and I really don’t want to tip it! Its way too nice. I’ve read that some charities give furniture directly to people in need rather than sell to the public so don’t require all sofas to have a fire label but I can’t find any. I live in Lichfield. Can anyone help? It’s currently taking up valuable bike space in my garage 🙂

Just in midst of a house clearance of my parents big old rambling place and our experience has been that anything without fire reg compliance that’s not recognisably antique goes to the skip. Seems a terrible waste of perfectly good furniture to me but that’s the way it seems to be here, in Glasgow area, at least.

Auctioneers in on Monday doing final clearance and I know for sure I’ll be paying them, rather than the other way round..

Freecycle?

https://www.freecycle.org

And in Lichfield:

https://groups.freecycle.org/group/LichfieldUK/posts/all

If only I could get it to Oldbury,I work for a Children’s Trust and the rooms that ‘contact’ with birth parents takes place in are really tired. I bet if you contacted local children’s places they would bite your hand off.

The organisations that is, not the children.

eBay it and give the proceeds to charity.

I think it pre-dates the fire label regs

No charity in the UK will touch it.
Sorry.
They either can’t sell it (illegal) or don’t fancy the kids/old folk/vulnerable residents being toasted in a fire due to that free sofa.

I put my old sofa on Facebook marketplace for free a few months ago and it was collected first thing the next morning by someone. May be worth trying if you just want rid of it?

eBay it and give the proceeds to charity.

This or even consider gumtree.

Might be worth contacting organisations such as Women’s Aid directly, they may be grateful for it…?

I have got rid of some pretty worn out stuff and frankly nasty beds on gumtree recently. in the place I bought was a set of bunk beds and a double bed Inc mattresses. Put the bunk up for sale on gumtree as it seemed worth something. Someone contacted me saying they were desperate for stuff as they had to move house. Mentioned the horrible double bed and they said they would take it! Came to collect everything a few days later. Free or a bargain price on gumtree is irresistible or essential to some people! These things were not in a nice condition so could not accept any cash but tbh they did me a huge favour in removing them!

I also bought a sofa from a charity shop, they were going to deliver it so asked if they could take the other perfectly good but too small one I had. They would not remove it until they saw the fire safety labels.

Freecycle but just say in the description that it doesn’t have the labels and people can make up their own mind about it.

As long as it’s not going to a smoker who likes a drink or two and falls asleep watching telly the risks are very very low.

I tried to give a leather sofa to charity or freecyle no takers. Put it on Facebook market place for £20 and it went!

Still 4sale m8? Can you swap4 Xbox wot dont work and currier to Carlisle?

mwleeds, a fellow Lichfield’er. 🙂

Have you tried asking on that Lichfield Facebook group ? Plenty of people on there, someone may know of a worthy cause. I can borrow a trailer from Scouts if you need help shifting it.

Gave mine to the British heart foundation.
They sent 2 guys to collect it, they made £268 plus gift aid and sent me a really nice letter to confirm the sale and thank me.

Just need to ensure it has the fire stickers on it.

Thanks for all the suggestions so far. I’ll try some of them this weekend. I’d tried Freecycle without success. I’ll search for the Lichfield Facebook group.

If all else fails…

If anyone has an old sofa without the fire safety sticker, take it to some safe place and set it on fire.

You’ll very quickly see why they’re not wanted.

Think of the foam as frozen petrol. 🙂

If anyone has an old sofa without the fire safety sticker, take it to some safe place and set it on fire.

You’ll very quickly see why they’re not wanted.

Think of the foam as frozen petrol. 🙂

My dad would have it off you. always said he’d not have a problem with a sofa pre fire testing.He was the county chief fire officer with 30 years service so probably a better understanding of the real risk as opposed to the perceived risk.