A mum sent her little girl off to a friend's birthday party at a hairdresser's only for her to come back with a large burn on her arm.

Young Sophia Middleton was invited to a school friend's pamper party at Wallington salon Degenis's on Sunday but returned home with the injury after she burned her wrist on a pair of hair straighteners.

The six-year-old's mum said the Stafford Road salon should have done more to prevent the incident but the manager said Sophia was warned not to go near the hot straighteners on several occasions.

Degenis's hosts pamper parties for children aged five and older during which guests get their hair styled and have other beauty treatments.

It is understood the straighteners, which can reach temperatures above 220c and can take up to 40 minutes to cool down, were left on a chair and Sophia was burned on the inside of her wrist as she tried to reach over them.

Your Local Guardian:

The injury to Sophia's wrist

Sophia's mum said: "You don't expect to drop your child off at a party and then pick them up with burns on their arm.

"It's a really nasty injury, she was in a lot of pain - so much that she could not sleep and we had to run her wrist underwater again. She had to take the day off school, it was that bad.

"I just can't believe something like this could be allowed to happen. I spoke to the manager and she said they watch over the children the whole time - if that's the case then this should not have happened."

The incident left Sophia with a large mark on her arm but she did not require hospital treatment.
Maria Digenis, manager of Degenis's, said: "We told the child three times but she kept going over to them.

"We keep the straighteners up high but the child kept going over there after them. We can't grab their hands and stop them.

"We had four adults here and four members of staff. We've been doing these parties for three years and we've never had anything like this.

"It's a hairdresser, not a playground so we are always telling the children to make sure they're careful. We feel like we nag sometimes.

"We do our utmost to keep children away from the straighteners."


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