Claudia Winkleman Has A Very Stark Halloween Warning For Parents

It's every parent's nightmare: TV presenter Claudia Winkleman was enjoying the Halloween festivities with her family in October of 2014, when a brush with a Jack-o'lantern candle sent her daughter's costume up in flames.  Matilda, who was eight-years-old at the time of the trick-or-treating accident, was taken to hospital where she was treated for third degree burns. In an effort to warn parents of the dangers of flammable Halloween costumes, the Strictly Come Dancing host spoke to BBC Watchdog in May, recalling the horror of the moment her child caught fire.

“We couldn’t put her out. Her tights had melted into her skin. She went up, is the only way I know how to describe it. It was not like fire I had seen before. "I wish that I had been dressed as the witch, that it happened to me.”

The devastated mum said her little girl suffered "life changing, not life defining" injuries, but her regrets over the incident continue to haunt her:

“I wish that I had made her dress in… Pyjamas, cotton, something like that." she said.

“I don’t want another eight year old to go through what Tilda went through.

"If next Halloween I stop a few people, [if they say] ‘let’s not put them in that near a naked flame’, that would be amazing. That is why I am here.”

The NSAI advised parents to check for safety labels and markings when shopping for Halloween costumes and accessories. Maurice Buckley, Chief Executive of the NSAI says:

“Consumers should look out for safety standard labels on their Halloween costumes, props and toys, such as “flame resistant” and the CE mark. Both of these labels show that the manufacturer has complied with national and international standards.

The label doesn’t mean that these items won't catch fire, but it does indicate that they will resist burning and they should extinguish quickly once you get them away from the fire source,” Mr Buckley added.

You can watch the full interview, which has been watched more than five million times, here: