Tracey Clifford had settled down in front of the television after saying goodnight to her three-year-old daughter Beth.

She was waiting for her fiancé to return home with a takeaway when she dashed upstairs after hearing screams from her son Ben, (10), who heard his sister choking while he was playing on the computer in his room.

"When I got to her room, Beth was bright red and dangling against the wall a few inches from the floor - I just thought 'oh, my God'," said Tracey (29), of Cherry Tree Grove, North Wingfield.

"I shot across the room and lifted her up to free the blind cord from her neck - it all seemed to happen in slow motion."

Tracey thinks her daughter must have decided to stand on her bed to have a look out of the window then put her head through the loop of the cord before climbing or slipping off the end of her bed.

Beth was not seriously injured and did not require hospital treatment following the incident last month - which could have ended in tragedy if it wasn't for Ben.

Tracey said: "Any other time, he wouldn't have been upstairs playing on the computer, he would have been downstairs watching the television. If Ben hadn't been upstairs and hadn't heard her choking, we wouldn't have known anything about it - she would have died.

"Thank you for saving your sister's life, Ben. Thank God for you being there."

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) joined Tracey in urging parents to be aware of the hazards posed by blind cords.

RoSPA spokeswoman Jo Stagg added: "We'd like it to be a lot easier to buy blinds which don't have looped cords."

Tracey, who has binned the blinds in her house, said: "If you don't need them, don't by them. In my opinion, they should be banned."