Boy, 6, has thumb torn off after playing on vandalised slide

Leon Wilkes was going down the slide when his hand became caught between the chute and the frame, ripping the digit from his hand.

His step-sister Hayley, 23, who was with him at the time, put the thumb in a bag of ice as the youngster was rushed to hospital.

Surgeons battled for more than five hours to re-attach the severed limb but have warned the operation may not be successful.

Leon Wilkes had his thumb ripped off after playing on a slide which had been vandalised

Now his anxious parents Christopher and Kathryn are warning of the dangers of children playing on damaged playground equipment.

Mr Wilkes said: 'He was going to his step-sister's to stay at her house and he ran ahead of her to go and play in the park, and he went on the slide.

'He went down the slide and got his thumb caught halfway down and it took over three quarters of his thumb off. '

As his son was recovering in Blackpool's Royal Preston Hospital Mr Wilkes called on councils to be more vigilant to ensure damaged equipment was repaired or rendered unusable.

He said: 'My concern is that someone else's child could do this.

'That slide is decrepit - the middle is coming away from the frame. The council should not have left it in that condition for children to get on.'

His father added: 'I don't think he has realised what it will be like not to have a thumb yet, but it will make things like trying to write much more of a struggle.

'We've already been trying to encourage him to write and colour in with his left hand. '

Blackpool Council said the damaged slide had been repaired as soon as staff  knew it was broken.

Mark Scrivens, the authority's head of parks confirmed the slide had been vandalised.

'I was very upset to hear about this accident and I want to send my best wishes to the young boy.

'The playground equipment in our parks is monitored on a very regular basis and nothing seemed out of place when it was checked earlier in the week.

'I'll be speaking to staff to ensure that these checks become more thorough.