A Londoner was left with golf ball-sized blisters he fears will scar him for life after he and his little brother touched Britain’s “most dangerous plant”.
Daniel Logan, 21, brushed past some giant hogweed while retrieving a football from a bush in Boston Manor Park, Brentford.
Thinking he’d been stung by a nettle, he rubbed his ankle with a dock leaf, and continued to enjoy the summer sunshine.
But his eight-year-old brother, Stanley, had been burned too, leaving both with blisters and Daniel barely able to walk.
“I jumped into the bush, got the football out, and stung my ankles. I thought it was stinging nettles,” said Daniel.
“My nan got me a dock leaf to rub on it, and I rubbed it on, and it got a little bit better.
“So the next two days I’ve chilled and gone to work like normal thinking nothing of it, because I thought it was a stinging nettle rash.
“Then two days later it just came up in massive blisters and it was so painful that, at one point, I couldn’t even walk.
“I got out of bed in the morning for work and I collapsed under my own weight.”
Part of what makes it so dangerous is that it usually causes no immediate pain, so its victims can continue to burn in the sunshine heedless of any problem. And it only takes a moment of exposure for the sap to do its work.
Daniel said his blisters grew as big as “golf balls” and caused “unbearable” pain.
He ended up being sent home from work early, and needed two further days off to recuperate.
He said: “For two days after I got stung by the plant, I was working with my ankles out in the sun because it was really hot, and that’s why they’ve blistered up so bad.”
It was less severe for Stanley, but “still not pretty” said mother Jenny.
She said: “My other son who got hurt, he’d had a leaf in his hand.“Obviously we’d got the dock leaves so he just picked a leaf too - and unfortunately it was this hogweed leaf.
“He had three very small blisters, they were like burn lines on his hands.
“He’s scarred as well and I’m hoping that it’s not a lifelong scar.”
Daniel, however, says he’ll forever be marked by the encounter. “It’s gonna be on me for the rest of my life,” he said.
“To be honest, I don’t even know when I can uncover my ankle - I’m scared to have it out in the sun, because I don’t want that to happen again.
“I can’t let no sun through otherwise I end up with third-degree burns, and that’s what it basically was - that’s what’s happened to me.”
Now the family are calling for parks to put up warning signs about the dangers of giant hogweed.
Jenny said: “If I would have known that there was anything like that in that park, if there was any warning signs, I would not have let the kids go anywhere near the bush.“
It took literally seconds. “I think that’s what Daniel is most fuming about: if he would have known the dangers, then it could have been completely avoided and he wouldn’t be scarred for life.”
Daniel added: “I’m 21 years old, and I’m alright if something like that happens to my ankle.
“But if a five-year-old tried to get a ball and fell into that bush, and fell face first, they’d get life-changing injuries.”
The giant hogweed is native to the Caucasus, but was introduced to Britain as an ornamental plant in 1817, and its spread has now got out of control.Mike Duddy, of the Mersey Basin Rivers Trust, said in 2015 that the giant hogweed was “without a shadow of a doubt, the most dangerous plant in Britain”.
If exposed to the plant, you should thoroughly wash the area that made contact and keep it out of sunlight for a few days, the Woodland Trust advises.
The London Borough of Hounslow, which manages the park, said the plants were under active treatment for removal.
Council leader Shantanu Rajawat said: “We are sorry to hear of this incident and hope the individuals affected are recovering.
“I want to assure residents and visitors to our much-loved, award-winning parks that this is a rare event.
“We have a dedicated team that manage our parks across the borough who work hard to ensure they are safe for everyone, including the treatment and removal of harmful plant life such as giant hogweed.
“Where found, the council and our partners will arrange for a specialist removal to be undertaken, with priority given to those areas which are easily accessible to the public.
“In response to this incident our parks teams have placed an additional cordon and signage in the area to warn park users of the risks of coming into contact with giant hogweed.
“We will continue to monitor the area closely.
“Where incidents and accidents occur, affected park users are encouraged to contact the council quickly so that we can provide support and swiftly act to ensure other park users are not impacted.”
