TWO men have been taken to hospital with burns to their faces and eyes after apparently using a UV tanning lamp to heat their home.
An ambulance crew discovered the pair, both in their 70s, after being called to a tenement in the Gorgie area of Edinburgh yesterday morning.
Rescue workers found a UV lamp designed for short tanning sessions had been left on for up to five hours to try to warm the property.
Both men were taken to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary by ambulance where they were being treated for their injuries.
One of the men was named locally as 74-year-old Robert McCartney.
A neighbour in Wheatfield Road, who did not want to be named, said: "The first I knew about it was when the gas man came to check for carbon monoxide. I was a bit worried and the next thing I knew there was an ambulance. I never actually saw the two men go into the ambulance though."
She added: "I don't really know him [Mr McCartney] well but I know who he is. He keeps himself to himself."
A spokeswoman for the ambulance service said: "We believe a heater was left on for a few hours, I think to get some heat.
"They left them on for a few hours and when they woke up they had burns to their faces and eyes."
She added the men were complaining of problems with their vision.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article