An Ayrshire barber has been scarred for life after his e-cigarette exploded in a pub.
Blayre Turnbull, 26, suffered brutal third degree burns on his leg after the vape device burst into flames in a Wetherspoons.
The barber who works at Auchinleck shop Urban Hair was out at The Wheatsheaf Inn in Kilmarnock with his dad when the freak accident happened on Sunday, August 7.
Blayre had to ditch his trousers in front of other punters in the busy boozer after the device burnt a hole in his pocket and scalded the muscles in his leg.
He was rushed to Crosshouse Hospital where medics had to clean out battery acid and vape oil from his wounds.
Blayre told Ayrshire Live: “My vape just burst into flames, now I’ve got third degree burns on my leg. The burns are so severe that they’ve scalded right through to my tendons.
“They’ve had to take skin from one thigh to use as a skin graft. I’m scarred for life now.
“My hand was all blistered up all my fingers, except my middle finger, and I’ve got three or four huge blisters on my palm.”
Blayre says he turned the device off after using it outside the venue before he heard a ‘spark’ and smoke started to come from his trouser pocket.
He said: “I didn’t know what was happening to begin with – it sounded like my vape was ‘sparking up’.
“I noticed the smoke was coming through my pocket and by the time I put my hand on it, it was on fire.
“I had to run away and drop my trousers. It wasn’t the best experience at all.”
Pub bosses have praised the “fast reaction” of brave staff who extinguished the fire.
Blayre, originally from Kilmarnock, purchased the device from online vape giant VPZ in September 2020 along with rechargeable batteries.
The barber who lives with his fiancé in Auchinleck is convinced the battery exploded.
Blayre was transferred from Crosshouse Hospital to a specialist burns unit in Glasgow at the Royal Infirmary where medics told him his vape burns were one of the worst cases they had seen.
He said: “They said it is quite a common thing that vapes blow up in people’s pockets.”
“When it explodes you’ve got battery acid and oil in a vape, they had to clean all of that out of the wounds.”
“They’ve had to perform a skin graft taken from my other thigh, the donor leg will heal up perfectly but the other one is going to scar pretty badly.”
Blayre, who is still recovering from his burns, is warning other users not to put vapes in their pocket.
He added: “I’ll never have one in my pocket again and I would definitely urge people not to put them in their pocket, once it's on fire, it is nuts what can happen.”
Vape giant VPZ confirmed Blayre purchased the vape in September 2020 and said that all their products are regulated and approved by The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.
The firm strongly advises that customers use a protective case for external batteries which are provided with all batteries to ensure “they are stored safely and correctly when not in use”.
A spokesperson added: “We provide all of our customers with a battery safety guide to help them use their vaping kit in a responsible way, and recommend that they change external batteries every six months if they are a heavy user and once a year if a light user.”
A spokesperson for Wetherspoons added: "We hope that the customer makes a speedy and full recovery.”
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