A BURNHAM-on-Sea mother says her family had a ‘lucky escape’ after her son’s mobile phone caught fire while it was being charged.

The mother, who wishes to remain anonymous, returned home with her family at around 1am after seeing a gig in Bristol on November 28 and her son put his phone on charge.

At around 3am, she said her son woke up feeling ‘disorientated’ as his room was filled with a ‘haze of toxic-smelling smoke’.

She said: “He said his back felt really warm and he could hear a crackling noise coming from his phone.

“He unplugged his phone and when he picked it up it was really hot.

“He came to the top of the stairs and alerted to us to what was going on.

“It was really frightening for him, he could not see anything.

“We had an extension put on our house about four years ago and my son’s bedroom is downstairs.

“We didn’t want him to have to put up with the fire alarm going off every time someone burnt something so we installed heat sensitive alarms instead of normal fire alarms.

“But when the phone caught fire they did not go off. His phone had not been on charge for very long, only about two hours.

We put the phone into the sink and waited for it to cool down.

“We had a lucky escape. I am just grateful that I still have my son.”

The mother said the phone has been sent to the manufacturer and they are doing tests to establish why the phone caught fire.

She urged phone owners to try and avoid charging their phones at night and to make sure they leave it on a stable surface if they are charging it.

“We think it was the battery that caught fire but it was certainly a frightening experience for us all,” the mother said.

“The phone actually melted and burnt through his sheet and some of his mattress.

“We have replaced the heat alarms with fire alarms now as we want to make sure we are safe and I have bought my son a wireless alarm charging plate so he just has to place his phone on the top of it.

“I would urge anyone who owns a mobile phone to not leave it in your bed when you are charging it overnight and to leave it on a safe surface.

“I don’t want this to happen to anyone else.”