Toddler scalded by boiling water at UK beach toilets
Stock photo: Rex
A toddler suffered severe scalding after his mum took him to a beach toilet to clean up.
Jayne Meek said her two-year-old son, Dean Forrest, was left screaming in agony when they visited a public loo to clean up after a family day trip to Seaburn beach in Sunderland.
As soon as Ms Meek turned on the tap, Dean was sprayed with searingly hot water from a malfunctioning boiler.
She told the Sunderland Echo: "I didn't have any water to rinse the sand off Dean, so I took him into the toilets at the beach.
"I ran the hot tap and the water was coming out lovely and warm. I put him in the sink then suddenly lots of boiling water started gushing out.
"He started screaming and I had to put him in another sink with cold water because his feet were scalded.
"I got my mum to call the council and see if there was any lifeguards to look at his burns, but we were told it would be at least a 15-minute wait because they were picking up rubbish on the beach.
"About 10 minutes later a man from the council came out and said the thermostat had broken and that's why the boiling water had come out.
"He said he was going to have to shut the toilets down because they were too dangerous for public use."
Jayne, who says Dean has been "left traumatised" by the incident, says she is angry that there were no warning signs put up, and that the beach does not provide better facilities to clean off after a day on the sand.
Councillor John Kelly, Portfolio Holder for Public Health told the paper: "We would like to apologise again to the family, and hope that Dean is feeling better after his unfortunate experience.
"We would also like to thank the family for bringing our attention to the problems with the hot water in the toilets, so we could take immediate action.
"Regular maintenance and cleanliness checks of all our public toilets are carried out by staff each morning, and we will be extra vigilant in future to prevent something like this from happening again."
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