A DOG lead which partially blinded a 10-year-old girl may be withdrawn from shops, if a meeting between trading standards officers and importers is successful.
Heather Horrocks, of Wasdale Avenue, Shadsworth, Blackburn, suffered a detached retina and other eye injuries when a retractable dog lead broke and snapped back into her face.
Heather, now 11, had to have a miniature buckle and a bubble of oil inserted in her eye to hold her retina in place after the accident last October and is still undergoing treatment at the Manchester Royal Eye Hospital.
Her grandfather, John Ferguson, said she had lost 75 per cent of her vision in her eye but had adapted well and settled into her new school, Our Lady and St John's RC High, despite missing more than five months of her last year at primary school.
Mr Ferguson, of Kelsall Avenue, said: "You can't tell there's anything wrong with her eye unless you look very closely, but she can only just read the top two lines of the test chart." The leads had been imported from Taiwan by Birmingham-based company Stone Galleon, who initially refused to meet trading standards officers or withdraw the product.
A spokesman for Birmingham Trading Standards office said a Birmingham woman suffered a hand injury when a similar lead broke and there have also been complaints from users in Ireland.
Birmingham Trading Standards officers, who tested two leads, decided to prosecute the company for distributing unsafe products and the case will be heard next month.
Stone Galleon has now opted to meet the officers this week to discuss removing the dog leads from shelves.
A spokeswoman for the trading standards office said: "We are meeting them to discuss recalling these leads, but it appears they may now have been repackaged so there are going to be a lot of things to speak about."
Mr Ferguson has contacted solicitors on Heather's behalf and is planning to sue Stone Galleon for compensation.
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