SWNS
A two-year-old boy was thrown six foot through the air after receiving an electric shock from a CHRISTMAS TREE.
Excited toddler Billy Allard went to hang a bauble on the tree when he was zapped by a faulty optic, his mum Sarah claims.
Now the 36-year-old said she will sue Argos, which sold her the £30 green tree in Reddictch, Worcestershire.
Following the shock, Billy was rushed to hospital and treated for burns to his hands and nose at the town. He also had an ECG scan to check his heart rate, but was released the same day.
Furious Sarah and her partner Robert Walker, 39, are taking legal action against Argos and demanding that the 'dangerous' trees are taken off the shelves.
Sarah, a care assistant from Redditch said: "I bought the tree for £30, it was half price. Billy was really excited about decorating it and we went to put it up in the front room.
"I turned it on to test the lights and then switched if off again. It was still plugged in but turned off when Billy went to put a bauble on the tree.
"Suddenly he just shot back and was thrown six feet through the air. "He just landed in a heap over the other side of the room. His hair was sticking up - we were frantic with worry and didn't know what to do.
"He burnt his hand and his nose and his eyebrows were singed. "The poor lad was crying his eyes out so we drove him to hospital and told the doctors.
"They carried out lots of checks and Billy had to have an ECG test to check his heart was okay but thankfully it was.
"He is built like a little rugby player but the hospital said if a child who was not quite so robust had been involved things could have been far worse.
Sarah's partner Robert added:. "We are going to be taking legal action against Argos and we contacted trading standards.
"We want those trees taken off the shelves - we don't want it to happen to anybody else, they are dangerous things."
An Argos spokesman said: "Argos takes customer safety extremely seriously and we have strict Quality Assurance processes to ensure that our products comply with the relevant UK and EU safety standards.
"We were very concerned to learn of the fault reported with the 6ft green fibre optic Christmas tree.
"We have made contact with the customer to apologise for any distress or inconvenience that has been caused to her family and are now conducting an urgent investigation into the product concerned to determine what may have caused the issue."