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'Things should be made easier to repair' – campaigner

Joshua AskewSouth East
News imageHandout A blonde woman wearing a dark navy shirt, with a logo that reads Repair Cafe Cranleigh. She is also wearing a badge that reads Caroline.Handout
Caroline Hayes, who founded the Cranleigh Repair Cafe, is calling for the government to remove VAT on repair services

A campaigner has called on the government to implement policies that would make it easier to repair household items.

Caroline Hayes, who founded the Cranleigh Repair Cafe in Surrey, said a lot of things are made nowadays so they cannot be easily repaired.

For example, she told the BBC products are often glued shut or it is difficult to find spare parts.

A government spokesperson said: "We are committed to cutting waste and moving to a circular economy so that we re-use, reduce and recycle more resources and help meet our emissions targets."

Volunteers from the Cranleigh Repair Cafe said they were joining repair groups from across the UK in Parliament on Wednesday.

The cafe added it wanted MPs to sign the Repair Declaration, which calls for VAT to be removed on repair services and spare parts to make them more affordable.

It also urges politicians to extend right-to-repair legislation so that appliance manufacturers are required to make information, parts, and tools necessary for repairs available.

The declaration wants more training and apprenticeships to increase repair skills and jobs to be offered, too.

News imageCranleigh Repair Cafe A man with glasses, in workmen gear, repairing a small wooden table. There is a woman, in an orange jumper and jeans, watching him work.Cranleigh Repair Cafe
The charity cafe repairs "all sorts of items" ranging from teddy bears to vaccum cleaners

Hayes told BBC Radio Surrey her charity cafe repaired "all sorts of items for the local community" - from teddy bears to vacuum cleaners.

She said repairing household items - rather than throwing them in landfill - was important for environment.

But she added that it also helped "people's pockets" as it was "much, much cheaper to repair something than buy new".

Hayes said a lot of people threw things away when there was nothing wrong with them.

"Lot of things actually aren't really broken," she said. "They're dusty, greasy, need some oil, or something like that. Very often [it can be] easily be repaired."

Hayes said the Cranleigh Repair Cafe, which began in 2024, had looked at more than 1,250 items with a 74.4% success rate.

"We are very popular in our community," she added.

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