This will make you go blind’: What shopkeeper told girl about 'vodka' that damaged her sight
By
Chris Brooke
Last updated at 3:41 AM on 31st January 2012
Devastating effects: Lauren Platts was left vomiting and suffering from damaged vision after drinking the cheap ‘vodka’
When Lauren Platts bought a cheap bottle of vodka from an off-licence, the shopkeeper warned her: ‘This stuff will make you blind.’
She dismissed it as a joke but the next morning she woke up with blurred vision plus a terrible migraine and sickness.
Miss Platts, 21, fears the £5.99 bottle of industrial alcohol masquerading as vodka may have permanently damaged her sight.She says that more than two months later she still has blurred sight and regularly loses her peripheral vision.
Police, trading standards officers and doctors have issued new warnings about the dangers of counterfeit alcohol.
High demand for cheap alcohol – especially in student areas – has led to the growth of a lucrative bootlegging business across the UK.
The bogus branded bottles often contain chemicals that can damage the optic nerve. Miss Platts, a Sheffield University student, bought her bottle from a corner shop in the city in November.
Scroll down to hear Lauren speak about the ordeal
Dire warning: Drinkers have been advised to stick with legitimate brands of vodka (pictured) and avoid very cut-price versions
She said: ‘The shopkeeper handed it to
me and said, “All this stuff will make you blind”. I laughed it off at
the time but I’m not laughing now.’
She drank about a third of the bottle mixed with lemonade before going out for the night.
Miss Platts, from Chesterfield, told the BBC1’s Inside Out programme: ‘I
woke up with the worst migraine I have ever had. I was throwing up, I
couldn’t keep anything down. I wasn’t able to get out of bed for two
days.’
And the problem has failed to clear up. ‘My vision goes blurred, I have
black blotches and I tend to lose my peripheral vision quite a lot,’ she
said.
Speaking out: The 21-year-old is afraid her vision will never be the same after she unknowingly drank the ‘industrial alcohol’
‘It’s really scary when you can’t see anything when you are
driving or even walking down the street trying to cross the road. I
think I might have it for good but I’m just grateful to be alive or not
completely blind.’
Often in bootlegged vodka, methylated spirit, which is purple, is mixed
with bleach to eliminate the colour and make it look like vodka.
The counterfeit vodka often contains high levels of methanol, which is
used to make anti-freeze and can lead to vomiting, dizziness, blindness
and breathing difficulties.
Cut-price deal: Lauren Platts bought the cheap ‘vodka’ because she wanted to save money as a student at Sheffield University (pictured)
Dr Vikas Sodiwala, a consultant in emergency medicine at Lincoln County
Hospital, said patients were turning up at casualty departments showing
similar symptoms of dizziness, nausea, stomach pains, vomiting and
blurred vision.
‘Methanol can attack the optic nerve at the back of the eye,’ he said.
‘This is what can affect a person’s vision and in some cases make them
blind.’
A Sheffield trading standards spokesman said officers had seized ‘loads’
of illicit vodka from corner shops after being contacted by the
university over Miss Platts’s case.
One shopkeeper has been fined £1,000 for selling the vodka and more
prosecutions are pending.
ALARMING GROWTH OF THE ILLEGAL ALCOHOL TRADE
Drinkers have been warned to watch out for the dangerous counterfeit alcohol with the illegal trade growing rapidly across Britain.
In July, five men who were illegally distilling vodka at an industrial estate in Boston, Lincolnshire, were killed in an explosion.
One of the biggest illegal vodka scams was discovered at a Hackney factory in 2010. Polish workers at the rat-infested warehouse churned out 24 bottles per minute, cheating the public purse of £16m in duty and VAT.
A consignment of £430,000 worth of pure alcohol, disguised as car wash fluid, was seized in Dublin on its way to Britain in 2009.
Two years earlier, a massive distillery run by Polish workers at Cardiff docks was discovered. The 5,500 litres of ‘vodka’ found there contained dangerous levels of methylated spirits and industrial variants of alcohol.
In 2002, a woman celebrating her engagement died after drinking vodka sold to her by a local man in her hometown of Musselburgh, along the Firth of Forth. That same night, a mother of three living nearby was left blinded after drinking from the same consignment of the alcohol.
The bootleggers are using industrial alcohol, not agricultural alcohol, which is unfit for human consumption. Bleach is added to methylated spirit to make the alcohol clear, so it resembles real vodka.
Ingredients like methanol, which can blind, isopropanol and other harmful products, normally used in cleaning fluids, antifreeze and paint stripper, have all been detected in batches of the illegal alcohol.
Wine lovers have also been warned to choose their drinks carefully by trading standards officials.
Last June, a counterfeit wine scam was uncovered when a piece of chewing gum was found in a bottle of rose. Brands reportedly included Echo Falls, Blossom Hill, Kumala and Hardy’s.
Drinkers have now been told to watch out for Pinot Grigio bottled in Bulgaria, a stash of which was seized at a restaurant in Cheltenham, as it may not have undergone safety tests and could cause health problems.
BBC Inside Out, BBC One (East Midlands) 30th Jan, 7.30pm. Also available on the BBC iPlayer and Sky channels 980 (East Midlands).
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I haven’t read all the comments so excuse me if I repeat someone else; I saw a
programme on TV recently about “bootleg” vodka,apparently some of it has found
its way into a supermarket chain.The only outward giveaway is the inferior quality
of the label,the genuine product has raised lettering,whereas the fakes just have
a flat print-out. BUYER BEWARE!
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This is what happens when a product is taxed to death… The same happened with smokes and the contents of those are even worse. If people weren’t forced to look for cheaper products there would be no market for these criminals to kill people. But I guess our dear MP’s have to keep their garden ducks in castle’s. And yes you can also buy low grade under counter fuel for your car.
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So what is happening to these shop owners or are we not allowed to ask????
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I remember when they we used to get the behind the counter stuff as kids, along with tobacco. Smells like paint-stripper. But I mean this is probably 1 in a million sort of thing. People have woke up with illnesses from drinking legal alcohol, lets remember. But I’m sure these scare stories will continue, government don’t want the price of alcohol and tobacco being dictated by supply and demand — god forbid!
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Anyone else concerned that she can’t see and yet is still driving?!
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“Where’s Health Safety when you need them.
– Anon, London, 30/1/2012 19:”
Helluva point!!
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Why are people being so nasty to this girl saying ‘he warned her’ yes he did, but how was she suppose to know he was being serious? I’m sure all of you would laugh it off as it seemed asif it did come across as a joke! Who in their right mind would sell a product like that, you wouldn’t expect them to be telling the truth! And for people saying about how much she drank, it’s quite obvious she shared it with other people, otherwise she would of been passed out way before she left to go out! Some people are so pig-minded!
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Funny land we live in isnt it? You can easily buy a bottle of industrial alcohol that can blind you but you cant buy a pack of spoons to stir your tea without approval. Welcome to Britain 2012.
– bruce, westminster, 30/1/2012 12:18_____I don’t know what kind of fantasy land you live in, but in Britain spoons are widely available to buy and don’t need any kind of approval.
– Stephen, Bolton, 30/01/2012 12:22
Except the girl who needed ID to buy teaspoons because they could be used to cook heroin.
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‘It’s really scary when you can’t see anything when you are driving..” She’s not seriously driving?
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I’m glad that I don’t drink, much.
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