Freedom Furniture replica chair traps the unwary: Teen girl nearly lost toe

CASULA teen Crystelle Smith wants Freedom Furniture to take a range of chairs off the market after a horror accident almost severed her toe and left her in a pool of blood.

A TEENAGE girl almost lost her toe in another example of an appendage becoming accidentally trapped inside a steel chair.

Crystelle Smith, 13, got the second toe on her left foot stuck in a chair bought at Freedom Furniture in Casula in 2011 after falling over and getting tangled when she was at her home in Elderslie in July last year.

Emergency services had to cut the chair leg off and rush her to Liverpool Hospital where they managed to keep the toe attached — but she has since lost feeling in it.

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Crystelle initially put the incident down to her own bad luck. However, after reading that other people had suffered a similar experience, she now wants chairs like this taken off the market.

Crystelle is calling for a recall after she almost lost a toe during an accident involving a Freedom Furniture chair. Picture: Adam Taylor

“I was just lying on the ground scared,” she said. “(It was) very painful. (Blood) was all over my foot and on the ground. I don’t have any feeling in that toe anymore.”

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The Daily Telegraph understand there have been eight similar examples of steel chairs sold by differing retailers injuring people when their toe is cut by sharp metal on the bottom of the leg. Other incidents include Mark Bulman, from Fairfield West, who lost the middle toe on his left foot after it got trapped inside a steel chair leg.

There are four product recalls of similar steel chairs presently occurring but that does not include the Freedom Furniture chair that ­injured Crystelle.

One of the companies who acted following these incidents is Western Sydney-based Brayco Stainless Sydney. They are contacting buyers of more than 6000 at-risk chairs.

Paramedics saved the teen’s toe, but she has lost feeling in it. Picture: Adam Taylor

There have been up to eight incidents involving steel chairs such as this, including cuts and severed toes. Picture: Adam Taylor

Emergency services were forced to cut the chair off Crystelle.

Crystelle’s mum Catherine Smith is thankful the staff at Liverpool Hospital were able to save her daughter’s toe but also wants the chair taken off the market to avoid it happening again. “This is happening to so many people with these types of chairs, there is obviously an issue with them.”

Last night, Freedom Furniture said they would “investigate this matter further”.

A spokesman for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said there were four Tolix replica chair models being recalled by their suppliers. It advised consumers thinking of purchasing these types of chairs to ask the supplier if they had checked for entrapment and laceration hazards.

Catherine Smith with daughter Crystelle Smith. The Smiths are worried a similar accident could occur if the chairs are left on the market. Picture: Adam Taylor