PARENTS of a toddler who died after choking on a piece of sausage have paid tribute to their “happy and loving” son.

Steven and Vicky Milner, speaking yesterday for the first time following the inquest into the death of their son Adam, said they hope no other family will have to go through the pain of losing their child in the same way.

Two-year-old Adam was left unable to breathe when food blocked his airway while he was eating his lunch at Portland House Nursery in Lindley on August 19, 2009.

The tot was left so brain damaged that four days later his parents had to make the agonising decision to turn off his life support machine.

Following the inquest in Bradford – in which a jury returned an open verdict – Adam’s father read out a statement on behalf of himself and his wife, who was not present.

Mr Milner said they had concerns throughout the week-long inquest about the care Adam received before he arrived at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary.

Mr Milner, a solicitor, said he and his legal executive wife were concerned that the nursery nurses had not been given adequate first aid training to deal with choking children.

And he said the emergency response vehicle had been later than it should have been because at first it had gone to the wrong nursery at an address at Portland Street.