TEA light candles are potential Christmas killers, say trading standards chiefs.

The lights are pretty and especially popular during the festive season but in tests their aluminium bases have become hot enough to melt plastic.

Swindon Trading Standards Team Leader Phil Thomas is urging householders to take precautions.

He said today: "Used sensibly, tea lights are normally safe and dependable.

"However, if precautions aren't followed, they can be killers.

"I'm most concerned that so few brands explain what these precautions are, and we'll be chasing up importers and producers to make sure local consumers get the protection they deserve."

Two people died in a house fire in Devon last Christmas after a tea light melted through the plastic top of a television set.

And a tea light placed on a plastic bath has been blamed for causing a fatal house fire in West Yorkshire.

Mr Thomas said that anybody using the lights should make sure that they are not in contact with anything capable of burning or melting.

In addition, they should never be left unattended especially overnight.

Trading standards officers in the South West have tested more than 50 brands of tea light.

To be safe, their bases, which are often made of metal, should never become hotter than 80C, 20C less than the temperature of boiling water.

But in tests, a number exceeded this, and one reached 344C, which is hot enough to melt plastic.

In addition, 12 per cent of packs of tea lights came with no safety warnings, and only a handful warned against placing them on plastic surfaces.

The officers also found that only one in four shops had staff with a sound knowledge of the potential dangers of using the lights.

Mark Altree, Wiltshire and Swindon Fire Authority's Community Fire Safety Officer, said: "It can't be emphasised enough how important it is that you follow simple safety advice when using tea lights."