Chinese factory pulls out the stops for a UK autistic boy

Autistic British teen Ben Carter won't drink from any cup other than his worn Tommee Tippee, which is no longer manufactured. [Photo/Marc Carter/Twitter]

A Chinese factory is pulling out all the stops, resurrecting an out of date product and partly suspending its normal business for several days to satisfy a 14-year-old autistic British boy.

Jackel China, located in Changping area of Dongguan, in Guangdong province, will suspend normal operation of three of its machines for two to three days. The machines will instead be allocated to manufacture between 500 and 1,000 blue-green Tommee Tippee cups, which Marc Carter said is the only cup his autistic son Ben will drink from.

Jackel China, located in Changping area of Dongguan, in Guangdong province, will suspend normal operation of three of its machines for two to three days to manufacture between 500 and 1,000 blue-green Tommee Tippee cups, which is the only cup a14-year-old autistic British boy will drink from. [Photo by Zhou Mo/chinadaily.com.cn]

Ben's cup, which was bought 12 years ago, is now worn out and his father appealed on social networking platforms in an effort to find a replacement.

Manufacture of the cup has been halted since 2003. It was originally produced by Jackel China under contract from UK-based Mayborn Group, which was acquired by Shanghai Jahwa (Group) Co. Ltd in April this year; it was previously owned by investment group 3i.

Manufacture of the cup has been halted since 2003. [Photo by Zhou Mo/chinadaily.com.cn]

The two-handled cups, widely popular amongst young parents in the UK, were sold by pharmacy chain Boots between 2001 and 2002.

Catherine Lee, who is in charge of Jackel China, said she heard of Ben's story on the internet and also from her colleagues in the UK and the company immediately decided to reactivate production for the boy.

Jackel China, located in Changping area of Dongguan, in Guangdong province, will suspend normal operation of three of its machines for two to three days to manufacture between 500 and 1,000 blue-green Tommee Tippee cups, which is the only cup  a14-year-old autistic British boy will drink from. [Photo by Zhou Mo/chinadaily.com.cn]

Lee said samples have already been sent to Ben's father, who will check the color. Once confirmation is received, the factory will start manufacture. Production of the cups is expected to take a week and costs 20,000 yuan ($2,900).

"We hope to send those cups to Ben on Christmas day or on New Year's day as a gift for him," she said.

To contact the reporter: sally@chinadailyhk.com