A MUM has urged parents to be on their guard after her 10-year-old daughter choked on a small plastic spoon while eating ice cream.

Judith and Caroline Morrill were enjoying a meal in Wackers fish and chip shop, in Gillygate, when Caroline got into difficulty and the spoon became lodged at the back of her throat.

The six-centimetre spoon comes as part of a Yorvale chocolate ice cream tub and the Acaster Malbis-based company have stressed this is the first incident of its kind that they know of.

However, Mrs Morrill, from Abbots Road in Selby, said parents should be aware of choking hazards after the family spent two hours in York Hospital A&E before Caroline swallowed the spoon.

"She started to laugh and the little spoon fell down her mouth and into her throat," said Mrs Morrill.

"I tried to get it out by tapping her on the back but had to take her to A&E.

"It was very frightening. I was terrified about what was going to happen and I'm still worried now in case something happens and there are complications."

York Press:

Wackers in Gillygate

The cafe has stopped serving the ice cream with a plastic spoon and only gives people the option to eat it with one of their own teaspoons to avoid a repeat of the incident.

"I'm really shocked and want to warn other people about it," added Mrs Morrill.

"I have reported this to Trading Standards to see if they can do something about it."

Gill Richards, owner of Wackers, said: "We have been in touch with the customer and have taken the spoons out of the ice creams and now present them on a saucer with our own teaspoon."

Ian Buxton, owner of Yorvale, said: "We’d like to stress that the spoon was not a foreign body IN the ice cream, but it was part of the lid. We have been using spoon in lid pots without incident for over 26 years and have sold 400,000 of these 120ml pots in the last 12 months alone.

"We have alerted local Environmental Health to the situation and will welcome their findings."