Man's blue skin A&E panic was just bed sheet dye

A man was rushed to hospital after his skin turned blue - only for medics to discover it was dye from his new bed sheets.

Tommy Lynch, from Derbyshire, said he had woken from a long sleep in the gifted navy-coloured bedding looking like "an Avatar", in reference to the blue beings from the blockbuster film.

A friend convinced him to head to hospital where concerned emergency ward staff put him on oxygen - but the penny dropped when a medic rubbed his arm with a swab that turned blue.

The 42-year-old said: "I was mortified but they said I'd given them a good laugh. They don't usually have funny stories in A&E."

The £40 set of bed sheets had been gifted to Lynch to keep him warm at his barn property in Castle Gresley in November.

He said the next morning when his friend clocked his newly-acquired blue hue, he implored him to dash straight to the A&E department at Queen's Hospital in Burton, Staffordshire.

"Everyone in the reception of A&E was staring at me like they'd seen a ghost," he said.

"They whisked me through, put me straight on oxygen, asking me all these questions. I had about 10 doctors all around me at one point.

"They went to take my blood and as soon as she wiped my arm, the wipe went blue. Then it clicked. I said, 'oh my god, I'm so sorry'.

"They were absolutely fantastic but I was mortified."

After receiving the medical all-clear, Lynch said it had taken several days to get rid of the blue by taking several baths.

"People were still looking at me weirdly as I had bath after bath but it took a week. The water was blue," he said.

"The first thing I did when I got home was wash my sheets. I haven't gone blue since.

"Always wash your sheets before you sleep in them. Unless you want to jump the queue at A&E."