A HORRIFIED dad sprang to action to save his son’s life after he began choking on a rubber cap from a Lucozade bottle. Jay Miller, 38, and his son Harvey, 10, were getting ready for football training at their home in Colchester, Essex, when the young boy’s eyes suddenly grew wide. Harvey began gasping for […]
A HORRIFIED dad sprang to action to save his son’s life after he began choking on a rubber cap from a Lucozade bottle.
Jay Miller, 38, and his son Harvey, 10, were getting ready for football training at their home in Colchester, Essex, when the young boy’s eyes suddenly grew wide.
Harvey began gasping for air, prompting the quick-thinking dad to try different techniques to dislodge the cap from his son’s throat.
Jay, an area support manager for maintenance services, told The Sun Online he slapped his son while moving him into different positions so his airway would clear.
He said: “I was beyond scared and felt numb all over and I couldn’t pinpoint what was going though my head there was so much but my focus was on helping my son who beyond scared himself.
“The colour drained from his face. It could have been a lot worse.
“I stood to the side of him and slapped him on his back between the shoulder blades in an upwards movement.”
Jay says in the moments of panic, he had hit his son so hard on his back it had left red marks.
The doting dad soon found out his son had been about to drink from the Lucozade bottle.
But before the liquid could even touch Harvey’s tongue, a small piece of the cap rolled inside his mouth and down his oesophagus instead.
He says the family often drink Lucozade’s before Harvey’s sister goes off to football training but they are put off using the bottles the same way.
Jay put the small piece of plastic behind the choking chaos to one side and contacted Suntory, who manufacture Lucozade, to complain.
But after multiple back and fourths with the company, he was left fuming and under the impression the company were trying to shift the blame back to him.
In emails seen by The Sun Online, a customer service representative says the company would investigate the claims after requesting he send the bottle back.
He followed their quality assurance policy to ensure the bottle was looked at and enclosed the bottle in a package slip sent over by Suntory but rejected some vouchers offered for replacement beverages.
Just days later, in an email Santory said following their investigation, they were unable to determine the exact cause of this complaint.
A consumer care manager wrote: “It is our view that such physical damage could have occurred to the valve after purchase, for example through the insertion of a straw through the cap, resulting in the soft inner petals of the valve to become detached.”
However for a second time, Jay was offered another voucher – but this time for more than just another batch of drinks.
The email said: “We do very much regret the distress experienced by your son and hope that we have been able to provide some reassurance.
“As a gesture of goodwill for bringing this matter to our attention and allowing us to investigate further, we would like to offer you a retailer gift card to the value of £75.”
Jay told the company he was not happy to receive the voucher and turned down the offer.
He said: “I refused it and wrote an email to explain how we were feeling about the offer.
“I can honestly say after the response I have had back from them it was nice to know that they will relook into this issue but at first I was angry and just wanted people to understand that this is a scary moment to have happen to you and your family.”
“I asked for the bottle back so I could try to have my own tests done which they agreed and did send back to me.
“But when I opened the parcel, I could clearly see that this has never been opened or any tests done on it because if they did then the clear tape I put inside the bottle lid would have been removed.”
Jay has since been in touch with the company who says they are going to investigate further.
He said: “It sounds like some one is taking it seriously and will help me find out how this has happened… but I wish I was made to feel like this right at the beginning.”
A Suntory Great Britain spokesperson said complaints of this nature are taken “incredibly seriously”.
They said: “We understand and appreciate how distressing this incident was for Mr Miller and his family.
“Following the initial contact from Mr Miller we conducted a thorough analysis of the complaint, this including examining the bottle and looking at the manufacturing process along with our supplier.
“After this thorough investigation, we informed Mr Miller that we were unable to find any circumstances within the manufacturing and distribution process that could have led to this isolated incident.
“We appreciate this finding might not have been satisfactory to hear.
“Following further correspondence with Mr Miller we offered to review the original investigation to reassure him which he subsequently welcomed.
“We continue to give this our fullest attention and we are also in regular contact with Mr Miller to keep him informed of the progress of the review.”
Jay urges other parents to be really careful of what you’re handing to kids.
He said: “The easy thing to do is to just twist the top off.”
