Santa lamp scare for mum and daughter
ASIX-YEAR-OLD girl with autism was left with a blistered and swollen face after pulling the top off a B&M Santa lamp.
Teresa Ayre is now urging the budget store chain to recall the Christmas decoration, saying daughter Laura pulled the stopper out of it easily.
Teresa, from Bramhall, says she panicked when she found Laura – who is unable to speak – with a reddened top lip, holding the open Santa lamp empty of its glitter fluid.
And she claims that within minutes, Laura’s blip blistered and her face began to swell.
Fearing she had drunk the liquid inside the lamp, Teresa rushed Laura to nearby Stepping Hill hospital.
“She had glitter all over her face and her lips were bleeding,” said Teresa. “Her face started swelling and I thought ‘if that’s happening, could she stop breathing?.’
“I didn’t know what was in this liquid.
“When I contacted B&M they said it was an unfortunate accident.
“How can a liquid that causes burns to a child be allowed on the shelves?”
Teresa is particularly concerned about the ease with which her daughter pulled the stopper off an object which, although is not a toy, is particularly attractive to children.
She said: “If she can get it out, then anybody can. This product should not be on the shelves if it can cause this reaction.
“I don’t know what more I can do other than warn people of the dangers, and tell them what happened to her. “I had to do something.” A B&M spokeswoman said the company was investigating, but had no immediate plans to take the glitter lamp off the shelves.
She said: “We were shocked to hear about the reported incident and have been investigating.
“The product is made by an approved supplier and passes all our strict testing. The liquid inside has also passed all tests and is a nontoxic water-based liquid.
“We’ve checked a large sample of stock and are unable to replicate the problem that has been reported – we were unable to get the lid off any of the samples we tested.
“We’re awaiting return of the product from the customer so that we can investigate further.
“We’ve sold more than 6,000 units to date and had no returns due to quality issues.”