Toddler With Life-Changing Injuries After Drinking Drain Cleaner Wins Damages From Shop Which ‘Should Have Kept it Out of Reach’

A shop has been ordered to pay damages after a toddler suffered life-changing injuries when he drank from a bottle of drain cleaner.

Ayman Faisal, who was just two years old at the time, was left with severe burns to his mouth, throat and stomach after he managed to open a bottle of caustic soda from the bottom shelf while his mother’s back was turned.

Since the incident in January 2013, he has been unable to breathe without the aid of a tracheostomy, cannot speak and needs a feeding tube in his stomach so he can eat and drink.

Following an investigation, the manufacturer – Active Brands Concept Ltd – admitted that the child-resistant cap had been faulty. Now SAFA Superstore in Moss Side, Manchester, has also been forced to accept responsibility after a judge found that the bottle should have been stored on a higher shelf. The owner also did not have the correct licence to sell the toxic substance which was clearly marked ‘keep out of reach of children.’

Saira, who is mum to Ayman, now seven, also suffered chemical burns to her hands and feet as she desperately tried to help her son.

Recalling the moment she realised something was wrong, she said: “Ayman was strapped into his pushchair and I was reaching to get something. It was only for a few seconds, but when I turned back I saw his lips had gone purple and blue and there was blood coming out of his mouth.

“I didn’t know what it was or what had happened at first, I just knew it was something bad.

“I remember screaming at the staff to phone an ambulance while I tried to get as much as I could out with my hands. I was terrified. All I kept thinking was ‘please don’t let me lose my son.”

Ayman spent around a month in intensive care and a further six weeks on a general ward at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital before being allowed home.

But four years on and he still needs round-the-clock care in case his tracheostomy becomes blocked and stops him from breathing. He now attends Lancasterian School in Didsbury and is learning to communicate using his iPad and sign language….READ FULL ARTICLE