A TAUNTON woman needs to go clothes shopping after a hole was burned in four of her tops in a freak incident.

Sunlight filtering through Maud Mortimer’s bedroom window was reflected by a mirror onto three blouses and a cardigan hanging behind the door, burning a 2½in hole in them.

Mrs Mortimer was astonished to discover the February sun last Friday was strong enough to cause the damage in her Hamlyn Close home.

She added: “I’d never have believed it could happen, particularly as it wasn’t a hot day.

“I was downstairs and my husband, Bob, smelt burning.

“When I found where it was coming from, I went into the bedroom and saw my clothes smouldering.

“The sunlight was being reflected from a two-way mirror – one side is normal, the other magnifies objects – and was strong enough to set the clothes alight. They were ruined.

“One of the tops was brand new – I got it for Christmas and had only worn it once.”

Mrs Mortimer said the mirror had been in the same spot for years.

She added: “If we’d been out, there could have been a major fire.

“I’ve now moved the mirror to the other side of the room.”

A Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service spokesman said he had heard of incidents of sunlight reflected off a mirror setting paper or lace curtains alight.

“That’s unusual, but the same could happen with clothes,” he added.

“We’d advise people not to keep mirrors near windows and to tilt them away from direct sunlight.”