Acid attacks have increased by 30 per cent in the last two years, new figures show.
Police forces across the UK have recorded 503 offences in which people were injured or threatened with harmful substances between 2012 and November 2015.
The Metropolitan Police said 26 attacks involving corrosive or noxious substances had been reported in London in the last three years.
Sulphuric acid, drain cleaner, chromic acid solution and patio cleaner were among the substances used in the assaults.
Wayne Ingold, 57, had sulphuric acid thrown in his face at a block of flats in Witham, Essex, in a case of mistaken identity in 2014.
The father-of-two said: “There has to be a stronger deterrent because these crimes are on the rise. It's got ridiculous now. One day someone will get killed.
"We had gun crime and knife crime - acid seems to be a cheaper alternative. How would these people feel if a member of their family was the victim?”
Mr Ingold’s attacker’s – 19-year-old Aarron Isaac and 16-year-old Jack McCabe – were jailed for a total of 16 years on November 6 last year.
Figures obtained under a freedom of information request by Press Association found that among the attacks reported to police, there were 242 reports of violent crime in 2014 and 2015 which mentioned acid or other corrosive substance.
The number is up from 186 alleged offences in 2012 and 2013.
Jaf Shah, director of the Acid Survivors Trust International, said: "The British Government needs to look into this subject with far greater seriousness to understand why these attacks are occurring and what can be done to prevent them occurring.”
Deputy Chief Constable Andy Cooke, the National Police Chiefs’ Council's lead on violence and public protection, said: "This type of offence is extreme and generally a very personalised crime with the aim being to cause lasting physical and emotional damage to victims.
"I am sure that some offences of this type are not reported as a crime to the police.
“Crimes such as this should not go unreported and I would urge anyone who is a victim of this type of attack to report it so that we can deal with the matter positively and sensitively.”
