TRADING Standards are warning that the latest toy craze could end in disaster after a young girl from Preston was injured.

Rachel Hargreaves, seven, was playing with a yo-yo ball -- a brightly coloured rubber ball attached to a stringy rubber cord.

But as she bounced the ball around her, the elastic cord wrapped around her neck.

Rachel's mum, Julie, said: "She came into the living room and had it wrapped about five or six times around her neck. I tried to get my fingers down under the elastic, but it was elasticated and I actually made it tighter. In the end I had to unwind it from around her neck."

Rachel had been given the toy by her 13-year-old brother Robert, after he bought it for just £1. After the accident she was left with a thick red mark on her neck.

After the accident, Mrs Hargreaves, who works for Lancashire County Council, reported it to the Trading Standards. Officers have now contacted toy importers, who they say are now taking steps to remove the toys from sale.

They are also reccomending that retailers take them off sale, or face legal action.

Mrs Hargreaves said: "I immediately rang trading standards. I didn't realise they would try and take it off the market. It was a happy outcome but it could have been a lot worse.

"If Rachel hadn't come in to show me, it doesn't bear thinking about what could have happened."

Lancashire County Council's Cabinet Member for Public Protection and Rural Affairs, County Councillor Doreen Pollitt, said: "The safety of children is of the upmost importance. These toys pose a clear risk of strangulation and parents should take steps to prevent their children playing with them.

"Retailers should act responsibly and ensure stocks of the toy are removed from sale."