A dad is calling for a ban on lollipops after his five-year-old son nearly choked to death on one of the sugary sweets that he'd been given while trick or treating.
Brett Cole said that his son Bobby 'went floppy' and lost consciousness when the lollipop came off the stick while he was eating it.
That caused him to choke, and now Cole wants to warn other parents about the potential dangers.
The dad-of-two said that he wouldn't ordinarily allow his kids to eat lollipops, but let them have one each when they received them during their Halloween trick or treating.
Bobby then started to choke while he was with his mother, who is a senior healthcare assistant, and she called Brett in to help.
Bobby was making 'choking noises' because the head of the sweet had become loose and lodged itself into his throat.
Mr Cole, from Plymouth, said that it was 'easily the worst experience' of his life.
He said: "We've seen a couple of things before about lollies, so we don't normally give them to our children.
"But they had been given a few in their Halloween sweets and they had been good and asked to have them, so we let them.
"My wife was sat next to Bobby on the sofa and he just started choking on it.
"Deanna shouted for me and I hit him hard on the back, to no effect.
"He passed out and he went floppy. My wife gave him the Heimlich manoeuvre and after several thrusts it came out with sick and blood."
Mr Cole then took his son, who was 'in a bit of shock' to hospital where he was looked over before returning to normal after a bit of a sleep.
Cole continued: "I just want to make people aware of the dangers. We all burst out crying, we were so worried.
"We're going to ban the lollies."
Since the incident, Mr Cole shared a warning to his Facebook page, where so far more than 35,000 people have shared it.
He wrote: "So today it happened, we don't usually buy the kids lollies but after trick or treating they had some in their pots. The end came off and Bobby started choking, this was easily the worst experience of my life.
"I hit him so hard on the back to no effect. Deanna Cole this morning has saved Bobby's life. She gave him the Heimlich manoeuvre and after several thrusts it came out with sick and blood.
"Please guys, take this from me: ban these lollies. I never post on Facebook but please take my advice. We have all cried our eyes out but Bobby is ok, he may not have been.
"Bobby is five and I stupidly thought this was old enough. I won't make that mistake again, make sure you don't!"
Featured Image Credit: SWNS