Father saves baby son from choking on orange peel

10:14am Saturday 22nd November 2008

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A FATHER’S quick thinking saved the life of his baby son when he began choking on a large piece of orange peel in a trifle.

Garith Carter had to stick his fingers down his 14- month-old son’s throat to retrieve the peel, which had been in an orange trifle bought at Greggs bakery.

Greggs has removed the trifles from sale while it carries out an investigation.

However, Mr Carter, who lives in Darlington, questioned how the orange peel got into the pudding.

The incident took place on Thursday lunchtime when Mr Carter’s son, also called Garith, was being fed by his mother, Hannah Cartwright.

They had bought the trifle from the Greggs shop in Yarm Road, Darlington, that day.

When Garith began choking, Ms Cartwright called for her partner’s help.

Mr Carter said: “I was sat in the sitting room while my partner was watching him feed.

“Garith just began choking and going blue.

“I had to get my finger down his throat and pulled out this bit of orange peel about 2cm long and 1cm wide.

“It was a real shock when I pulled that out.

“How that got into a piece of trifle for a child I don’t know.

“If we had not seen him, it could have been a lot worse.

“I was really shocked when it happened.

“We have spoken to the health visitor, who said that he is okay.

“He is fine now, but he was not happy that he could not finish his trifle.”

Mr Carter said he had spoken to Greggs, which has asked him to send in the orange peel so it can be investigated.

A spokesman for Greggs said: “We were very sorry to hear of this distressing incident and are pleased that Mr Carter’s quick reaction resolved the problem. We will be contacting Mr Carter to apologise, and assure him that the incident will be fully investigated.

“This is the first time we have had an incident of this type but, as a precaution, the Greggs Division has removed from sale all remaining products until we have completed our investigation.”