A man who lives near Burnham-On-Sea has been left with horrific burns after the battery for his e-cigarette exploded in his pocket.
Jim Vearncombe from Rooksbridge may need skin grafts after his jeans went up in flames.
Jim’s leg is an ugly mess of burnt flesh, he spent four days in hospital and may yet need a skin graft – all his injuries came from a small battery used with his e-cigarette.
He says he charged the battery properly and put it in his pocket as he prepared to go out with his wife.
But then, Jim says, things went badly wrong: “I felt it getting warm, it was getting very warm so I literally put my hand in my pocket to pull it out and it exploded in my jeans.”
“It made a massive hole in my jeans and it obviously damaged my leg, I screamed for my wife, I ran over to the hallway and then it vented, which means it went off like a Roman Candle down my jeans.”
“I ripped my jeans open and my wife was alarmed and ran to the sink and chucked all the water over me that was in the sink and then ran outside and put the hosepipe on me.”
Nearly three weeks after the accident Jim is able to do some work at his firm making deluxe baths, but the accident cost him time and money as well as pain.
He thinks the battery my have shorted out after coming into contact with coins in his pocket. Jim had to take time off from work which cost him money as he runs his own company
Jim’s work colleague uses an e cigarette that’s designed differently, it has a built in battery. But Jim says nothing will make him use one again.
