A dad who saved his disabled son from choking to death on a toy with first aid skills he learnt at work believes all parents should receive training.

Nigel Rayner had to shove his fingers down son Alfie’s throat when the five-year-old swallowed part of his toy train.

The terrifying incident happened at the family home in Cross Road, Witham, where the 42-year-old and his wife Vicki, 33, care for their son, who has Pitt Hopkins Syndrome (PTHS).

The rare gene defect means Alfie has learning difficulties and problems with speech and movement.

The couple take turns at looking after Alfie in the early mornings and on this occasion Nigel was ironing at 5.30am while his son played in the front room.

He said: “For some reason I thought it must be time to chec k on Alfie, because he had stopped making noise.

“Then I just I just heard him wheezing. It sounds horrible but the last time I heard the noise was when my grandmother passed away and I heard her last breath.”

Mr Rayner said he rushed into the front room and found his son on the floor with a red face and bulging eyes.

He said: “I could hear him vomiting, that was when I had the indication that something had completely blocked his airway and he wasn’t just choking on a biscuit.”

The toy was about an inch thick and hollow, but with no hole to allow air to pass through.

Mr Rayner, who received first aid training when he worked at a hospital, said: “With something like that, it’s essential to keep calm.

“I didn’t panic at all, I just got on and did it. I was shaking like anything afterwards .

“For the first minute, I put him over my arm and I was hitting him on the back. It wasn’t working so I put him on the floor and put pressure on his chest.

“I realised that wasn’t going to work either so as a last resort I shoved my fingers down his throat.”

Mr Rayner said he eventually managed to grab the item and drag it out of his son’s mouth.

He said: “At this point, his lips had gone blue and he was lifeless.

"All the air just rushed back into him and he started screaming and crying.

“It felt like an hour because of all the different thoughts going through my head, but it was only about four of five minutes.  Iwill never forget how he looked.”

Mr Rayner said all parents should be given first-aid training, particularly if their children were disabled.