A SIX-YEAR-OLD boy was taken to hospital after wasps stung him from head to toe by wasps as he played in a park.

Daniel Goldthorpe was playing at Whitehall Park, Darwen, with some friends when he disturbed a nest.

Mum Christine Goldthorpe, 45, was busy running the Swan Hotel in Bolton Road, Darwen, with her husband Joseph, 57, when a girl ran in and said Daniel was covered in wasps.

Christine said: "I just ran out of the pub with one of our customers, Dave Almond.

"Daniel came running down the road screaming and he was just covered from head to toe in wasps.

"He had got into a bush like little boys do, and I think he disturbed a nest.

"Dave was marvellous. He knocked all the wasps off Daniel and got rid of quite a lot of them."

"It was really scary and I was frightened that Daniel might get an allergic reaction."

Dave, 34, is a warehouse manager at The Pine Warehouse, Watery Lane, Darwen, and has been a regular customer at the Swan Hotel for the past five years.

He said: "I got most of the wasps off Daniel.

"He had some in his hair, and they were stuck all over his clothes, but he kept trying to run off.

"I pulled his T-shirt, trainers, and tracksuit bottoms off and told him to run back to the pub with his mum.

"Then I jumped all over his clothes, trying to kill all the wasps. "It all happened really quickly. There was a wasps' nest in the ground and I think Daniel just ran across the top of it.

"There were 50 to 100 wasps in his clothes and I could see he'd had a lot of stings."

Daniel was taken by ambulance to Blackburn Royal Infirmary where he spent four hours in casualty.

He was treated with cream and antihistamines, and morphine to calm him down.

He was then taken to Queen's Park Hospital where he was seen by the poisons department and a paediatrician, before he was told he could go home.

Leading ambulanceman John Titherington said: "I think people are already aware of how dangerous wasps' nests can be, but children don't know any different. I think the nest should be removed to prevent any more accidents happening."

A council spokesman said: "We will be getting in touch with the family to find out where the nest is, so that we can destroy it. Our sympathies go to the little boy, and we hope he is soon recovered."

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