Fireworks horror mum speaks out

A CUMBERNAULD mum has warned about the risks of fireworks after her four-year-old son was left badly scarred by a freak accident with a rocket outside their home last year.

Amy McCabe (38) had left her house of Chestnut Avenue in Abronhill to work as an auxiliary nurse in Yorkhill Hospital, as her husband Alan took their two sons to a fully supervised but unofficial neighbourhood display.

Hours later, she learned that her four-year-old Ben was in an ambulance and was heading for the children’s wing of the hospital with horrific burns to his neck and chest after a firework landed inside his clothing.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The incident which inflicted Ben with nine per cent burns happened after a firework toppled over before its disastrous misfire, despite the fact that all spectators were standing well back from the scene.

A year has gone by and Ben has started at Whitelees Primary but still needs his deep itch-inducing wounds to be dressed daily. And he is is still under the watchful eye of specialists at Yorkhill Childrens Hospital.

Amy said: “I would say to parents – no matter how well organised an unofficial display is, fireworks themselves are too unpredictable. You do not know how they will fall. An official display is much safer. Ben’s nine-year-old brother Luke witnessed this and it’s him who has said that we should be speaking out about the risks,” said Amy.

Cumbernauld’s official display takes place at Broadwood Loch on Sunday,November 4, at 7.30pm.