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Little Boy 'Burnt To A Crisp' Despite Wearing Poundland Sun Cream

Little Boy 'Burnt To A Crisp' Despite Wearing Poundland Sun Cream

Poor Reuben was so badly burned his skin was ‘purple’.

Kimberley Bond

Kimberley Bond

While we've reached the tail end of the UK's glorious heatwave (hello again, drizzle) not everyone enjoyed the week of hot temperatures and bright sunshine.

One little boy was left "burned to a crisp" after a day in the sun, despite his mother claiming she repeatedly covered him in Factor 50 sun cream from Poundland.

Danielle put cream repeatedly on Reuben (
Kennedy)

Danielle Day says her seven-year-old son Reuben was left so badly burned that he turned 'purple' and was unable to even put on his clothes for school as his skin was so sore.

The Brentwood-based 34-year-old said she had liberally applied sun cream to three of her children as they were enjoying the sunny weekend weather.

However, when Reuben came out to play, she realised the bottle was empty, and asked husband Bill, 36, to run across the road to Poundland for a bottle of Sun&Sand kids' SPF 50 sunscreen lotion.

The sun cream did not protect Reuben (
Kennedy News)

While Danielle says she slathered Reuben in the cream, which says it offers high protection, three times, he later complained of feeling 'sore'.

The following morning, Reuben woke up so red that his mum says he was almost purple - and was even unable to get dressed for school due to his burns.

"Literally every bit of Reuben's exposed skin was burnt to a crisp," Danielle explained. "It was really traumatic for him. Now he doesn't want to come into the garden, get into the pool or be out in the sunshine.

Parts of Reuben's skin were left scorched (
Kennedy News)

"I don't normally get on my [high] horse about things like this, but I was really annoyed and upset for him really.

"Reuben couldn't go into school on the Monday because he was in so much pain. He couldn't even put his t-shirt on."

Every part of Reuben's exposed skin got burned (
Kennedy News)

The burns were so bad, Reuben went into hospital a few days later for further assessment.

"We were down at the hospital for six hours," Danielle said. "They thought he was so badly burned that it was traumatic for the body."

Danielle claims she only let Reuben play in the sun after his dad had returned from Poundland from the sun cream at around 2.30 in the afternoon, playing in the sun until dinner time at 6pm.

Reuben had to go to hospital over his burns (
Kennedy News)

While the stay-at-home went indoors midway through the afternoon to watch TV, Danielle added that she reapplied lotion multiple times.

But despite her best efforts to look after his skin, Reuben woke up the following day with sun burn and Danielle was forced to call 111.

"We'd covered the other children in the normal Nivea [sun cream] which we had indoors, then we'd run out," she said.

"When Reuben came out, my husband ran over to Poundland because it's pretty much in our back garden.

Poor Reuben has left not wanting to go out in the sun (
Kennedy News)

"He grabbed some sun cream, slathered him up completely and he then came out into the garden.

"He wasn't out in the sun for a long period of time, which was even more frustrating.

"When we put him to bed and he said 'I'm a bit sore'. He looked a little bit red, but I thought 'well, it's been a hot day' and didn't think much of it.

"It was only when he got up the next day that he was almost so red, it'd gone purple."

While Reuben had to remain off school on Monday due to his burns, his skin has now started the healing process and is now peeling, following advice to apply aloe vera gel.

However, Danielle says Reuben has been left traumatised by the experience.

Reuben is now on the mend (
Kennedy News)

"He missed his sports day yesterday because he refused to have cream on him and they wouldn't let him sit out in the field," she explained.

"He went out, did his 30 seconds race and went back over to the side and sat by himself. He's worried - really worried."

A Poundland spokesman said: "We were sorry to hear what happened to Reuben. We've checked and Danielle bought the sun screen from us mid-afternoon last Saturday.

"When she got in touch, we passed her concerns to the makers of 'Sun & Sand' which is a high-quality brand manufactured by Conquest Personal Care.

Danielle is hoping to warn others about the sun cream (
Kennedy News)

"We can also confirm that we haven't had any other complaints of a similar nature about this brand in either its SPF30 or SPF50 formulation.

"It's really important because it's a sun screen, not a sun block, that it's applied liberally and often as per the instructions on the bottle, especially where kids are involved and even though we understand Reuben was only in the sun later in the day."

Conquest Personal Care, who distribute Sun&Sand sun cream in the UK, were approached repeatedly for comment but failed to respond.

Featured Image Credit: Kennedy News Media

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