A YOUNG woman was left with horrific burns after using her Primark water bottle.
Jess Wilson suffered from burns so badly that she couldn’t walk after failing to check a key detail.
The 17-year-old student had just filled her hot water bottle up ready for a 45-minute drive to a football match she was playing in that morning.
However, after placing the bottle on her belly beneath her seatbelt, the device suddenly ruptured – expelling boiling hot water all over Jess’ stomach, thighs and intimate area.
Jess, who lives in Middlesbrough, began screaming in agony as her mum Kelly Hall – a 45-year-old nurse – rushed her daughter into a cold shower and wrapped the burns.
The horrifying photos show more than a dozen large, painful blisters covering Jess’ red raw lower body.
After she was rushed to hospital, doctors popped Jess’ newly-formed blisters and dressed her wounds – but the student has been left unable to walk since being admitted on January 25 when the incident took place.
The family have since discovered the Primark hot water bottle was manufactured in 2019—while experts advise changing your device every two years.
It means the product was four years ‘out of date’, which Jess has since learned she could have checked for using a symbol usually on the top of the bottle.
The brand’s guidelines also note that boiling water should never be used; the water should be allowed to cool first to avoid scalding.
Jess has no idea what scars she will be left with – and is urging others to bin their own hot water bottles to prevent further accidents.
Jess said: “I woke up freezing cold. I was getting ready [for football] and just had my little shorts on.
Luckily, on this day I decided to wear my joggers and I’d never worn them before.
“I grabbed the first hot water bottle I found, boiled the kettle, put the boiling water in, closed the bottle and took it out to the car.
“I use them quite often. At school, I used to put them in my school trousers when it was really cold.
“I sat down and put it on my belly, with the bottom facing down. I put my seatbelt over the top of it and then it just popped everywhere, all over my thighs and intimate area.
“The bottom of the bottle had just split completely.
“I just remember screaming and screaming. I had a water bottle in the car and just emptied it over myself. I was shaking.
“Luckily, my mam’s a nurse and she heard me screaming. She stripped me down, put me in a cold shower, wrapped the burns in cling film and a wet towel.”
Jess’s dad rushed her to The James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough where doctors treated the extensive wounds across her stomach, thighs and intimate area.
Jess, who has been in hospital since Saturday, hasn’t been able to walk since being admitted and has ‘no idea’ what permanent scarring she will be left with.
Jess said: “I’ve not been able to move at all. I just haven’t had the energy to lift my legs up.
“We won’t know if it’s going to permanently scar yet, it’s too early to tell.
“It’s the worst pain I’ve ever experienced in my life. I’ve had loads of injuries through football and never felt anything like this.”
Jess has since learned that hot water bottles have an expiry date at the top of every device, with the large number in the centre of the symbol indicating the date of manufacture.
It is recommended that hot water bottles should only be kept for two years, while the item Jess was using went ‘out of date’ in 2021.
Mum Kelly said: “I’ll never forget that scream she made. Ninety nine per cent of people we’ve spoken to didn’t even know the symbol on a hot water bottle meant an expiry date.”
Jess added: “For an hour of warmth, it’s not worth it. The amount of people I’ve spoken to who had no idea about the expiry date, we just want to raise awareness.
“I’ll never use a hot water bottle again. I’d tell people to get rid of them – it’s just not worth it.”
A Primark spokesperson said: “We were really sorry to learn of this customer’s experience.
“We take the safety and the quality of our products very seriously and all our hot water bottles have been tested to, and pass the UK and European standards for safety, quality and labelling.
“All our hot water bottles come with user instructions on both the product label and the hot water bottle itself, which includes a warning not to use boiling water and to replace the hot water bottle every two years.
“As a responsible retailer we want to do all we can to help consumers use their hot water bottle safely, which is why we have information at point of sale in our stores and a safety guide on hot water bottle usage on our website informing customers on how to check the manufacturing date of the hot water bottle.”