Lamb Inn Winkton

I could have died... (From Bournemouth Echo)

A DRINKER has told of the moment he drank from a pint of bleach served to him by mistake in a pub.

John Dodd suffered horrific burns after he took a gulp of the pint of caustic cleaning fluid without realising.

The 60-year-old, who suffers from a poor sense of smell, swallowed the toxic liquid which was mixed with remnants of ale.

He said he immediately felt a burning sensation on his tongue, throat and stomach and was violently sick at the bar in front of his horrified wife Susan, 48.

The shocked barman handed him a glass of water before calling for an ambulance.

Mr Dodd, a property maintenance worker, was rushed to hospital for treatment and was off work for the next two weeks because he couldn't speak.

As reported in the Daily Echo yesterday, Sally Canning, the former landlady of the Ship In Distress in Stanpit, Christchurch, was charged with various offences under the Health and Safety at Work Act.

She was fined £8,000 and told to pay £1,200 compensation to Mr Dodd.

Mr Dodd, from West Moors, near Ferndown, said: "The barman put the pint of beer on the bar and it looked a normal colour so I just picked it up and took a large gulp.

"I immediately felt this horrendous burning sensation on my tongue and it continued all the way down into my stomach.

"It made me wretch and I was sick on the floor straightaway.

"I just had the most horrendous pain in my mouth and stomach - it was unbearable."

Mr Dodd was rushed to hospital where he underwent X-rays and had his blistered mouth and throat examined.

He was sent home the following day and told to drink plenty of water.

The incident happened in July 2006.

Wimborne magistrates heard that Canning had asked staff the previous day to put the cleaning fluid into the Ringwood Ale pipe when it became blocked.

She tied a piece of blue tissue paper around the neck of the pump to stop bar staff from using it.

But Mr Dodd said: "I didn't notice a blue towel on the pump and the Ringwood Ale sign was facing round the correct way.

"This was a horrendous mistake and the doctors told me that if I had downed the pint in one go I would have died.

"I am lucky I'm 60. If I had been younger I might have knocked it back in one." Canning, who is in her late 40s, admitted two offences under the Health and Safety at Work Act.

She has since left the Ship In Distress and is working part time at the Lamb Inn, Winkton.

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