Petrol burns victim in critical condition

The woman burned when pouring petrol from a jerry can in her kitchen remains in a critical condition in hospital.

Diane Hill suffered 40 per cent burns after vapours ignited while she was pouring fuel into a jug at her home in Moorgate, Acomb, York, on Thursday.

The 46-year-old mother-of-two remains critically ill in the specialist burns unit at Pinderfields hospital in Wakefield, a hospital spokesman said yesterday.

Leader of the City of York Council councillor James Alexander has promised social workers will be sent to counsel those neighbours who witnessed Ms Hill trying desperately to free herself of her burning clothes.

The accident led to calls for Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude to resign.

He was blamed for causing a wave of panic-buying when he told motorists to store fuel in a jerry can in the garage as a “sensible precaution” against a possible strike by tanker hauliers.

Ms Hill’s daughters returned to the family home briefly on Saturday but were too upset to comment. They have been staying by their mother’s hospital bedside.

Yesterday, a friend said: “We are all just praying for her.”