TOY guns like the one involved in the death of an 11-year-old boy in the New Forest are to be banned almost immediately.

And anyone who may already have bought one has been urged to throw it away.

Trading standards departments have pushed through an urgent change in the rules after holidaymaker Scott West died at Sandy Balls holiday centre at Godshill, near Fordingbridge, two weeks ago.

A post-mortem examination revealed the schoolboy had choked on a two-centimetre-long soft dart from a toy gun.

Pressure from trading standards has since led to a change in the British Toy Safety Standards to ban any air darts shorter than 57mm.

Bournemouth Borough Council is writing to shops to warn of the change in the rules.

"It's something that has been moved very quickly. It's something that doesn't happen very often," said principal trading standards officer Paul Walker.

The rules will change on September 30 but shops are being asked to remove similar guns from their shelves immediately. Any parents whose children already have one are urged to throw them away. "Normally what happens is there's a transitional period but with this there's none, so regrettably if there are any stocks in the chain they're not allowed to work their way through," said Mr Walker.

"Enforcement authorities exercise tolerance in this sort of area but unfortunately the rapidity of the change does not allow for this."

He said similar guns were being sold in the area. "Evidence suggests they're still readily available. We've taken steps to contact as many of our retailers as possible in the area just to warn them and we've sent out an urgent message to all affected retailers alerting them to the issue," he added.

Scott West, from Pulborough in Sussex, was on holiday in Godshill when the accident happened. An inquest into his death is due to be held in Southampton on October 8.