A SHOP has voluntarily removed a brand of teddy bear from its shelves after a complaint from an angry mum who claimed her daughter nearly choked on a similar toy when she was baby.

The move follows a complaint to trading standards officers by Brenda West whose daughter Emily was found with stuffing from a toy in her mouth more than a year ago when she was just seven months old.

The tot, now two, was rushed to Blackburn Royal Infirmary and was later given the all clear.

But Mrs West, of Priory Place, Darwen, was shocked when she saw a similar teddy bear on sale at Cards, Market Street, Darwen.

She said: "You can imagine my shock when I saw another one just like it on sale in the same shop this week, especially as it also had stuffing coming out of it.

"The assistant was very helpful and immediately removed the bear.

"The first time it happened, the manufacturers didn't even reply to my letters.

"This time I want to make sure these teddies are safe so that other people don't have to go through what I did."

Mrs West spoke about the moment when she claimed Emily nearly choked.

She said: "I was ironing and had given Emily the teddy to play with in her pen. I turned around to find her with stuffing from its foot in her mouth.

"For a while I didn't know if she had swallowed any and it was really frightening. The teddy had been bought as a birth gift from my mother and there was no warning tab on it."

Mrs West now wants some action taken to prevent other incidents. Chris Allen, of Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council's trading standards department, confirmed a complaint had been made about the teddy bears.

He added: "We are making inquiries and have been in touch which the shop which has volunteered to take the bears off sale until the investigation is complete.

"The bear in question doesn't appear to be the same as the original one and it is CE marked, which means it conforms to European safety legislation.

"We can only have the teddy bear taken off sale if there is found to be a fault with the whole range.

Mrs West is entitled to her money back on the faulty bear."

A director at Card Warehouse, the group which owns the shop where the bears were on sale, refused to comment on the matter until seeing the outcome of the trading standards inquiry.

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