PARENTS in Melksham have been warned to keep an eye on their children in the town’s parks after two youngsters had their hands burned by hot black rubber safety mat playing surfaces.

The warning came from Melksham Town Council after a grandparent had to rush two children to Chippenham Community Hospital with burnt and blistered hands.

Stevie Cook posted a message on a Melksham social media site warning parents to beware of the rubber safety surfaces under play equipment in a local park.

The post said: “Today we took five of my grandchildren aged three to seven to the park with a picnic. All five were playing chase nicely for ages, then my six-year old grandson said he burnt his hands.

“We checked them, poured some bottled water on them and they seemed fine but were puzzled how he had burnt them. About an hour later after falling over he started screaming and running towards us holding both hands out.

“He was so upset we couldn’t understand what he was trying to say. When we checked his hands they had blistered and the fall had torn the skin from the palms badly enough to need hospital treatment.

“Not five minutes after he was on his way to Chippenham hospital one of my seven-year old grandsons also ran over screaming. He had done exactly the same, burnt hands and falling on the grass whilst playing had torn the skin from his palms.

“After talking to other children, it was sitting on the black safety matting around the equipment and putting their hands down when they were getting up that had caused the burns.

“They have now got their hands dressed and needing to go back to Chippenham hospital for further treatment. Please be aware wen taking children to parks, the black safety matting gets hot enough to burn.”

A spokesman for Melksham Town Council, which manages the King George V playing field on behalf of the Fields in Trust, the former National Playing Fields Association, urged parents to take care when allowing their children to play on equipment in the hot sunny weather.

She said: “Please take extra care when letting your little ones play out this summer.

“Whilst we are all loving this hot summer we are having, it does mean that play equipment in our play areas across the town; swings, slides in particular, and the safety surfaces around them could become very hot.

“Please check and make sure it is safe for your child to play and have fun in the sun.”