A TEENAGE boy collapsed in school after vaping an unknown substance from an electronic cigarette.

The frightening incident happened at Turton School in Bromley Cross last Wednesday afternoon and an ambulance was called.

Fortunately the pupil came round within half-an-hour and did not need hospital treatment.

The child was sent home after being checked over paramedics and is said to be fine after his ordeal.

Now the headteacher of Turton School, one of Bolton’s most popular schools, has issued a warning message to children and the wider community about the dangers of young people using electronic cigarettes — or e-cigarettes as they are commonly known as — not knowing what they are inhaling.

It is illegal to sell e-cigarettes to those under-18 and the devices are banned from school premises, with any found being immediately confiscated.

Headteacher Sam Gorse said it was the first such incident at Turton School but said the issue of children using e-cigarettes not knowing what substance they were ‘vaping’ was a growing and concerning issue in the wider community.

She told The Bolton News: “I know other heads have complained about this kind of problem. We rarely have this kind of incident at Turton School and it it the first time this has happened.

“It’s horrific and shocking when you see a child responding like that.

“I don’t think they knew what was in it, and that is the scary part — they still smoke it.”

Schools across the region are discussing how to educate young people about the dangers of using the smoking paraphernalia.

Ms Gorse said: “There is a lesson here for young people who are picking these things up — wherever they are getting them from — about the dangers of not knowing what they are buying.

“We, as a group of heads , are talking about how we get the messages out there about the danger of electronic cigarettes and how manage it collectively inside schools.”

Schools do regularly check for e-cigarettes being brought into school but Ms Gorse says it is impossible to “catch everybody”.

A spokesman for North West Ambulance Service said paramedics were called to the school at 1pm adding no one was taken to hospital. Experimentation with e-cigarettes is fairly common among young people with 15.4 per cent of 11 to 18 year olds in the country having tried them according to Government statistics.