A TOY shop manager has accused the Government of wildly exaggerating the threat posed to children by Yo-Balls.

The Department of Trade and Industry has ordered stores and shops to withdraw the controversial toy immediately.

All outlets in Canterbury complied by sweeping the hot-selling rubber balls from their counters after the DTI said tests proved the toy posed a risk of strangulation.

But Sally Brooker, manager of D & A Toys, which sold the 99p toys from shops at Broad Oak Trading Estate, Canterbury, and High Street, Sittingbourne, believes the Government has overreacted.

She said: "We sold thousands of Yo-Balls without once receiving a complaint. The Government has completely overreacted. Where do you stop? Would you ban skipping ropes? What about hockey sticks?

"I've heard of no accidents involving children playing with Yo-Balls but I don't doubt that there have been a few problems across the country. No doubt children using skateboards have been injured also.

"The problem is, where do you stop? If you're not careful, you're banning everything."

D & A Toys are one of a number of toy shops in Canterbury that have withdrawn their Yo-Balls.

Canterbury's Fenwick and Nasons department stores also responded to the ban immediately. Fenwick spokesman David Dixon said: "They were certainly a big craze, although we had no reports of any child suffering injury."

Nasons toy department assistant Helen Noakes said: "The Yo-Ball was so popular we kept selling out. We had no complaints but obviously we have complied with the ban."

More than five million Yo-Balls had been sold in Britain by the time the Department of Trade and Industry concluded the toys did not meet safety requirements.

It is the first time in 10 years that the Government has banned a toy. Ministers were forced to act after at least eight reports of children having narrow escapes in Yo-Ball accidents.

The toy consists of a weighted plastic ball filled with liquid which is attached to a length of rubber. The idea is to bounce the ball from the hand much like a traditional yo-yo.

However, children have taken to swinging the balls around their heads, with the result that the rubber string has become wrapped tightly around their necks.

A spokesman for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents said: "As so many of these toys have been sold, we hope that parents treat this toy with the utmost caution."