A toy helicopter given to a boy as a Christmas present blew up and burst into flames the first time it was used.

Father Kevin West said he feared for the safety of other youngsters with the same remote control gadget as the fire could easily have spread.

Mr West, of Chiltern Crescent, Durrington, said he had bought the "Apache Fighter General Mobilisation Micro Helicopter" from Tek toyshop in the Guildbourne Centre, Worthing, for his 13-year-old son Josh.

He opted for one of the more expensive models, costing £35, as a treat but the first time they tried to fly the polystyrene toy on Boxing Day it vibrated and shook.

They then decided to charge it up and placed it on the sofa but after a couple of minutes it exploded.

Mr West said: "It just blew up. There were actual flames coming out of it.

"The helicopter is really shot to bits and it looks like something out of World War Two or the Terminator film."

Mr West said his son had been longing for the toy but had been given such a scare he now said did not want to ever go near a remote control gadget again.

But the father's main concern was about the damage the toy could have caused.

He said: "I hardly got any sleep worrying about it that night.

"If it had been under a curtain or anything it would have set it alight and if there was no-one in the room it could be really dangerous.

"It could have given a child serious burns or even killed someone if a room had caught on fire."

The Argus tried to contact Tek on Thursday and Friday but it was shut and so no-one was available for comment.

Other Christmas toys have proven more fatal this year. A seven-year-old girl died on Boxing Day after driving a quad bike, which she received for Christmas, on the road.

Elizabeth Cooke was driving behind her father's Range Rover on a country road near Chelmsford.

In November large-scale toy manufacturer Mattel was forced to issue a mass recall of toys for the fifth time in less than four months after fears were raised that a line of products could pose a choking hazard to young children.

Items such as its Fisher-Price Learning Kitchen were cleared from shop shelves, where they had been for several months.

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