Aldi has shared guidance after a candle purchased from the budget supermarket "exploded" while burning. 

Cathy Lewis-Clugston was left angry after the candle shattered on the evening of 13 December, leaving behind hot wax and shards of glass in her living room.

The candle is currently still on sale in Aldi stores for £3.99, offering candle lovers a “whopping 170 hours burn time.”

The supermarket has called on shoppers to follow safety instructions provided when using the scented candle range.

An Aldi spokesperson said: “We are sorry to hear about Ms Lewis-Clugston’s experience. Candles should always be used in accordance with the safety instructions provided, including ensuring the correct distance between multiple candles.”

‘Large chunks of glass’

Ms Lewis-Clugston said she had several candles burning, when all of sudden she heard a loud bang, prompting her cat to run upstairs.

“I noticed the candle had gone out,” she said. But, on closer inspection, Ms Lewis-Clugston realised that the flame hadn’t just burned out - the glass jar encasing the candle had shattered.

“I went over and there were large chunks of glass scattered about on the coffee table,” she said.

“I had the candle on a wicker mat, and there was wax all over the place. I thought, ‘It’s exploded.’

“I am somebody who likes to burn scented candles, and I've burned them for years and years, quite often Yankee ones, but other ones as well. Never once has this happened. This is the only time.”

Luckily, Ms Lewis-Clugston wasn’t harmed, and neither was her cat, Lizzie, though the animal was left a little startled by the incident.

‘House fires are caused by much less’

Apart from Lizzie the cat, Ms Lewis-Clugston was alone in the house when the explosion happened.

“It was just lucky I wasn’t sitting next to it, or there weren’t kids or anyone else around,” she said.

“I am a retired police officer. I can say I’ve been to house fires in my job that have been caused by far less than things like that.

“After I realised what it was, I was really quite angry. It clearly isn’t fit for purpose if it can’t withstand the heat from the flame, and it shouldn't be sold.”

A spate of similar incidents

After the incident, Ms Lewis-Clugston took to social media to see if other people had experienced similar issues with Aldi candles.

In October this year, Emily Redfearn posted images on Twitter of her Aldi Coconut Noir Candle in pieces after it went up in flames and shattered.

In the tweet she wrote, “Hey @AldiUK , we’ve just had one of your candles set fire and explode in our bedroom. We lit the candle around 4 hours before this. Thankfully we both noticed it, but how has this passed safety tests? The outcome could have been a lot worse than the burn marks on our furniture.”

In December 2019, a mother said that her son was “nearly blinded” when the supermarket candle exploded glass across the room.

Emm Landers told the Liverpool Echo that the Aldi Number 3 candle was placed on the bottom of their fireplace before it became “like a bomb.”

In July this year, Maisie Sutton shared a similar experience with the Aldi Summer Sands candle, warning fellow Twitter users not to buy the candle after it had exploded after being lit for only 10 minutes.