Wednesday 31 August 2011

Complaining About H&S – Yr Clearly Doin’ It Wrong…

When their three-year- old son slipped and banged his head while enjoying a swim at a Hampshire leisure complex, Sophia Sillence and John White expected nothing but support from staff.

What they got instead was a police escort out of the building and an indefinite ban from ever setting foot inside the attraction again.
Sounds like a dreadful overreaction..?

Well, read on:
Jaydon was playing on the pirate ship in the baby pool when he fell and hit his head.

21-year-old Sophia said: “My son came round screaming and holding his head. I then looked down and noticed the rubber matting in the pool had worn out.”

Trouble flared when Sophia, who lives in Winchester with selfemployed labourer John, was given an accident form to fill in and then asked the duty officer whether they were going to make customers aware of the “hazard” she had found.

In response Sophia said: “He took my son’s accident form out of my hand and asked me and my family to leave. I was shocked at this response and asked why. He then pulled us to the side and asked us to keep quiet.”

An argument then erupted and Sophia claims they were surrounded by up to 15 staff before the police were called in and they were forced to leave.
The clue is in the words ‘An argument erupted…’, I suspect…
Valley Leisure, which owns Romsey Rapids, denied there was a risk to public safety and defended the actions of staff. Lynn Bayliss, general manager at Valley Leisure said: “… The area of rubber crumb that it was alleged was the cause of the accident has been assessed both by our staff and independently and it has been deemed not to be a trip or slip hazard.

She added that first-aid treatment was given to Jaydon and an accident form provided.

“Unfortunately the customers were extremely aggressive and intimidating towards our staff and went on to cause a major disturbance at reception to the detriment of other customers and our staff.

“The level of threat was severe enough for our staff to take the unusual step of having to call the police.

The police attended and reviewed the CCTV footage and subsequently they were banned from the premises.”
Moral of the story being, those who feel like causing a ruck (rather than the usual method, going home and contacting an ambulance-chasing solicitor’s firm) should have the sense to look for the CCTV cameras first

6 comments:

Captain Haddock said...

I'm not sure who to believe on this one ..

Its fast becoming an option to equip oneself with a "Head-Cam" or similar device (well, if useless PCSO's can have them) .. that way, one has first hand evidence of who said what & when to whom ..

I've already read that some drivers have had them fitted to their vehicles, to counter the malicious allegations made by some (not all) of the cycling fraternity ..

Bucko said...

Jaydon? I think the parents must have had a bump on the head.

microdave said...

I would escort anyone called Jaydon out of the building before he had (allegedly) buggered over.


And beat the crap out of the parents for inflicting such a stupid name in the first place...

Ian B said...

What the fuck kind of a name is Jaydon? Where do they get these names from? Is it a tribute to two Osmond Brothers?

JuliaM said...

"I'm not sure who to believe on this one .."

Does the name of the afflicted child not give you a pointer?

"Jaydon? I think the parents must have had a bump on the head."

Indeed! It was a big red flag to me. I think microdave had the right idea!

"Where do they get these names from? Is it a tribute to two Osmond Brothers?"

It's quite a popular name amongst Essex-based chav families in the last five years. See it appearing in magistrate's court listings in a few years time.

John Pickworth said...

21-year-old Sophia said: “My son came round screaming and holding his head."

That pretty much tipped me off where the blame lay. Mother evidently not 'on the scene' leaving 3 y/o son to look after himself.

As for the name; perhaps he's a Mortgage Corporation like Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae?