A YOUNG boy was left screaming in pain, after running through the remains of a fire in an Oxford park.

Charles Selley was playing with his grandchildren in Littlemore Park on Saturday when he heard a child shouting from near the play area.

The 64-year-old thought it was the typical sound of children playing, but when the sound turned to screams he raced over to see what was going on.

He found the boy, about seven or eight, crouched over an ash pit near the play area with his mum with burn marks on both his feet.

Mr Selley, who lives with his wife Rosemary in Weston-Super-Mare but was visited family in Oxford, said: "The boy had taken his shoes and socks off and you could see he had burnt his feet quite badly.

"There was smoke coming from the pit as well.

"It was not covered off so people could just run through it, he probably thought it was just a sandpit.

"It was amazing that no-one else had done anything about it before this happened."

Fire crews were called to the park, and when they raked off ashes from the pit glowing embers from the fire were found underneath.

Mr Selley said: "That boy should be running around parks at that age and it's something you should be able to do without worrying. It is a very safe park.

But despite the incident, Mr Selley said he would still return with his grandchildren, Charlotte, five, and James, 19 months, to the park.

"We've been to the park quite a lot and it hasn't really changed my mind at all.

"We never leave the children unsupervised, and Charlotte is not the kind of girl who would run away from us in the park."