A MOTHER has been left furious after her baby daughter was just moments away from drinking leaking battery acid from a flimsy Amazon toy.
Claire Keegan from Birmingham said she felt sick to her stomach when she spotted two-year-old Grace’s bath duck leaking acid.
The little-one-had only played with the light-up duck once before the batteries started to leak out from a “flimsy panel”.
The mum-of-one had to quickly take the light-up duck away from Grace before she swallowed the acid, which could have been fatal.
Claire’s mum Jackie Keegan, who bought the toy for her granddaughter, was given a refund from the distributor BlingBling – who are now no longer selling the product.
But the family are now demanding that all other stores also stop selling the duck to prevent fatalities in the future.
Claire, 30, posted an image to Amazon’s Facebook page which showed the bottom of the duck with the panel hanging off and a browny liquid which appears to have leaked from the batteries.
She wrote: “Warning for parents. I’m absolutely disgusted. My Mum bought this ‘bath toy’ from your website. My daughter has taken it into the bath once and this has happened.
“It was only when my fiance saw the colour and warned me as my daughter was about to put it into her mouth that I took it off her and saw how easy it would have been for her to open the battery panel and get the batteries out.
“Thank god he noticed as swallowing one of the small round batteries in this could have killed her. You do not expect something sold and marketed for babies by a large reputable company to be this dangerous.
“I’m absolutely fuming. Please do not buy this for your children. Please take this off your website immediately.”
Speaking today (fri), teacher Claire said: “We were getting her ready for bed after her bath and she was about to put it in her mouth. My fiance said ‘look at the colour’.
“I took it off her and it was just a clip covering four little batteries. It shouldn’t be that easy to open the panel on a baby’s toy, and I couldn’t believe the batteries had leaked after one bath.
“It made me feel sick to be honest. I just though ‘thank goodness my fiance noticed it.’
“It doesn’t bear thinking about what could have happened – it could have killed her.
“We know how dangerous those batteries are – people get rushed to A and E.”
The online company fully refunded Jackie the £2.15 that she paid and said that the seller would no longer be offering the product.
However, the toy is still available from other sellers, and Claire is adamant that they should be removed.
“The seller is no longer selling them, but there is lots of other people still selling them on Amazon,” she added.
“We want them removed but Amazon have said there is nothing they can do, even though it’s on their website.”
An Amazon spokesman said: “Customer safety is our highest priority. All Marketplace sellers must follow our selling guidelines and those who don’t will be subject to action including potential removal of their account. The product in question is no longer available.”
In the lead up to Christmas, Amazon were accused of ruining the festivities for families by sending out gifts in their original packaging, meaning kids across the country had their surprises ruined.
