Warning After Derbyshire Toddler Found Hanging From Lift Bed

29 April 2016, 11:43

A Derbyshire toddler was found hanging unconscious and not breathing on his parent's lift-up bed after a freak accident.

Terrified Charlotte Hames, 30, told how she found two-year-old son Buddy George blue in the face and unresponsive after he got his neck stuck in his parents' hydraulic ``Ottoman-type'' bed.

She tried to revive him before he was rushed to Queen's Medical Centre in Nottingham in an ambulance on Monday and kept in overnight by medics before being allowed home. He has made a full recovery.

Ms Hames and Buddy's father Anthony Ancliff, who also have another son, four-year-old Jesse James, and a daughter of 11 months, Primrose, are now warning parents about the beds, which have bases that hinge upwards to reveal a storage space inside.

Ms Hames, from Kirk Hallam, Derbyshire, said: ``I was in the bathroom and thought Buddy had gone quiet so I shouted up to him but got no response.

``I had a gut instinct something was wrong so rushed to our bedroom where he'd been playing and found him hanging by his neck from the bed's lifting loop. He was blue in the face and not breathing - I was frantic.''

Mr Ancliff said: ``Charlotte grabbed Buddy and rushed him next door to my uncle's house where they called an ambulance and started trying to revive him.

``Charlotte called me at work saying Buddy had hung himself and wasn't breathing. She was so hysterical I couldn't make out what she was trying to say so I just got off the phone and drove to the hospital in a blind panic.''

He added: ``Our children mean everything to us and we couldn't imagine carrying on if anything had happened to Buddy. That's why we want to warn other parents about the potential danger caused by these lifting loops and remove them - don't take the chance.

``We don't want anyone else to go through what we've been through this week.''

Derbyshire County Council, whose trading standards team is investigating, said the bed had a one-foot loop which is pulled to start the lifting action before the hydraulics take over, and requires someone of adult height and weight to pull it down.

The authority said it was speaking to the Bed Federation about suspending ``the supply of similar products currently available'' and having them modified to remove the loop.

Councillor Dave Allen, cabinet member for health and communities, said: ``It appears Buddy had managed to trigger the lifting process but his slight weight was not enough to prevent the mattress continuing to rise when his neck got caught in the lifting loop and he was pulled upwards.

``The strap effectively created a ligature that lifted him off his feet and it is only the fact that his mother found him in time that we are not dealing with a terrible tragedy.''