Parents of two boys seriously injured by disposable barbecues have called for a ban.
Temperatures are rising this week with warm weather to continue into the weekend as the mercury soars to nearly 32°C.
But because people plan to flock to the beach, they have been urged not to bring disposable barbecues.
Toby Tyler’s son, Will needed skin grafts and was left with lifelong scars after stepping on an extremely hot stretch of sand that had been host to a barbecue in June 2020.
The family had moved the barbecue on Formby Beach in Merseyside hours earlier, but the sand was still ‘red hot’ when the schoolboy walked over it.
His father had to carry his then nine-year-old son for 20 minutes to get him to the family car before rushing to the hospital.
Will, now 11, suffered burns so severe that he had to undergo skin grafts from his right thigh to his left foot at the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital.
The sixth-year student will still have to return to the hospital for checkups every six to eight weeks, a process that will continue until he stops growing.
Toby said the trauma of his son’s injury had had a “significant impact” on him, both physically and psychologically. This includes PTSD and ‘severe anxiety attacks’.
He said: ‘He has to wear the compression sock all the time, including at school and swimming and gym.
“He gets massages, a splint twice a day and regularly visits the burns department and the psychosocial support department of the hospital.”
Toby has since launched a petition calling for a ban and also supports National BBQ Week’s ‘Ditch the Disposable’ campaign, which calls on the government to introduce legislation that would ban the items.
A ban on single-use barbecues on beaches and open spaces was introduced in Brighton last week to address safety and environmental concerns.
Anyone who does not comply with the rules can receive a fixed fine.
Campaigners hope the approach can be extended to other parts of the UK.
Toby’s calls were repeated by Lucy Gotellier, whose son Alex was in a similar situation.
He was recently on a school trip at Camber Sands in East Sussex when he tripped and fell backwards.
Alex landed on a disposable barbecue and cut his Achilles tendon.
“It had to be carried off the beach by his teachers,” Lucy said.
“There was blood everywhere. He was in a lot of pain and in shock.’
Alex, a pupil at St Ronan’s School in Hawkhurst, Kent, had to be taken to the emergency room on June 27, where he was admitted overnight.
He had been told he would have to wait another two weeks for the surgery to stitch his Achilles tendon, but luckily the doctors were able to operate on him the next day.
Now Alex is doing ‘brilliantly’ and is recovering well at home in Benenden, Kent and was off painkillers as of July 1.
But Lucy has also called for action against those people who leave behind the device that hurt her son.
The 47-year-old added: “The people who left the barbecue on the beach were deeply irresponsible.
‘They need to know that their behavior causes damage, which is why I am raising awareness.
“People need to know how dangerous disposable barbecues are and I think they should be banned.”
National BBQ Week founder Brian George said: ‘We have been calling on retailers to ditch the Disposable since 2020 and this is a prime example of the urgent need for a nationwide ban.
‘They may be cheap to buy, but they have a high environmental price.
“While some national retailers have already introduced partial bans, it’s just not enough, retailers need to enforce a full ban, otherwise the UK government needs to step in and enforce a ban.
In the meantime, I would like to encourage buyers to send them a clear signal not to buy them and that they won’t have a place on store shelves by 2022. As we’ve said so many times, dump it.”
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