A mum is urging Brits to always enjoy their morning cuppa at a table or diluted with cold water - after spilling her herbal tea into her lap and 'melting off' her thigh.

Rosalind Levine wanted to take advantage of the 'peace and silence' while her three-year-old daughter and visiting mother-in-law slept so crept downstairs to enjoy a tea.

The 45-year-old carefully carried the herbal infusion, containing vitamin D and ginger, to the sofa overlooking the garden.

As the TV producer raised the cup to her lips to take a first sip it unexpectedly slipped out of her hand, tipping the boiling hot contents of the mug down her chest and into her lap.

Horrifying photos show the agonising five-inch long burnHorrifying photos show the agonising five-inch long burn (Image: Kennedy News and Media)

The screaming mum-of-two clawed at her sodden tracksuit bottoms and raced up to the shower where she doused herself in cold water for 10 minutes.

Horrifying photos show the agonising five-inch long burn on her left thigh minutes after the drink spilled onto her - with blisters and burns forming in the shape of the splashes.

Minutes later the mum-of-two felt faint and collapsed to the floor while on the phone to 999 who dispatched an ambulance.

After 20 minutes a paramedic arrived and treated her at home, urging her to keep the second-degree burn clean and dry.

Now waiting for the skin to heal on her leg, Rosalind is urging people to sup hot drinks at tables so if they spill anything they're protected from the same thing happening to them.

She says if you can't do this then tea-lovers could add a splash of cold water so that the water is no longer boiling. 

Rosalind, from Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, said: "The pain was searing, it was horrendous.  It was like having a flame held to you, the pain shot through me, it was really shocking.

"I jumped up and tried to lean forward in the hope that the water would drop off me but of course it didn't because my clothes were clinging to me.

"I was desperately trying to get them off while screaming in pain at the same time. As I took the thin tracksuit bottoms off I saw that the top layer of skin had melted away."

After standing under a stream of cold water in the shower for 10 minutes Rosalind started to feel poorly and fearing she'd faint called 999.

Rosalind said: "I was trying to stay calm but was panicking inside. I ran upstairs and was in the shower for ten minutes.

"I made the water as cold as I possibly could I think because the burn was so hot I wasn't even feeling it was cold water.

"I started to feel faint so called 999.

"My heart was beating really fast, it was really scary, I thought 'I've only dropped a tea down myself, what the hell is happening?'

"At this point I collapsed onto the floor, I was still conscious, and poured cold water over my leg.

"About 20 minutes later the paramedic came, took my blood pressure, monitored me, gave me some bandages and said I'd be alright.

"My chest is very red, but the skin didn't melt away because I was sitting upright and it pooled in my lap."

Rosalind is now urging people to drink hot drinks at a table to protect themselves from the same thing happening to them.

Rosalind said: "I've drunk thousands of cups of tea before, I couldn't tell you why or how that happened.

"My advice would be if you're having a really hot drink, sit at the table with it then if you do drop it, it mostly goes onto the table and not into your lap.

"Or even adding a little bit of cold water when it's a drink with no milk so that if anything should happen at least it's not burning water straight out of the kettle."