A FATHER has urged council housing chiefs to fit safety catches on all kitchen doors after his 11-month-old son chopped off the tip of a finger in an accident.

Ian Tague had to rush his screaming son Ross to hospital after he got his finger caught in a metal hinge on a kitchen unit.

Mr Tague, of Cotswold Terrace, South Stanley, said: "It was awful. I never realised how dangerous these hinges could be - they are like guillotines.

"The council has a duty of care towards its tenants and should fit safety catches on all these doors to prevent similar accidents happening."

Mr Tague said Ross was under the sink unit standing inside the cupboard with one hand resting on the hinge when he lost his balance and pushed the door forward.

He said: "It took the end of his finger off and the bone was protruding.

"It must have been an arterial bleed, because every time his heart pumped the blood spurted out. He absolutely screamed the place down."

Mr Tague said he had bought safety catches which cost £13.

He said: "They should be standard in all houses."

A spokesman for Derwentside District Council said that council officials had inspected the unit door involved in the accident and had not found anything wrong with it, or anything that required doing to it.

He said, however: "We will be assessing our design of the units following the accident."