Last year, Strictly host Claudia Winkleman's daughter Matilda was involved in a horrific Halloween accident and now she's opening up about the dangers of it
Last year, Strictly Come Dancing saw the absence of Claudia Winkleman when her daughter was sadly involved in a horrific accident involving an open fire and her Halloween costume, and with the holiday coming around again, fire safety to Halloween costumes has been bought to our attention again.
An investigation from The Sun revealed that costumes that can catch fire in just a mere nine seconds, are still being sold across the UK.
Paul Hancock, president of the Chief Fire Officers Association (CFOA) has given advice to parents about what precautions to take as Halloween comes closer: “Applying the same standards to fancy dress costumes as applies to children’s pyjamas and night dresses would increase the safety of children wearing them.”
Last year, Claudia’s 8-year-old daughter Matilda was out with Claudia and a group of others, when her Halloween costume caught on fire. She was rushed to hospital and treated for severe burns.
Now a year later, the 43-year-old mum has bravely opened up and re-lived the tragic incident to bring awareness to the dangers of Halloween costumes, and stop any other child experiencing the same accident.
Recalling how they ‘couldn’t put her out’ and how Matilda’s ‘tights melted into her’, Claudia was could be seen shaken and upset talking about the incident on BBC’s Watchdog.
‘I don’t want another eight-year-old to go through what Matilda went through… That is why I’m here.’
During the programme, it was revealed that Halloween costumes are registered as toys, which affects their safety testing.
‘It’s nota toy because you wear it next to bare skin, because if she’d have been holding a broomstick, let’s say, which is a toy, we could have chucked that, but we couldn’t put her out fast enough.’
A survey of 2,000 mums showed that three quarters of them wanted stricter laws in order to make sure that kid’s fancy dress outfits are flame retardant.
‘I would like parents, on Halloween, just to think about what they’re going to put their kids in. Because I didn’t. And it cost us.’
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