Woman ordered to track down bouncy castle

Inflatable News

Woman ordered to track down bouncy castle

A BUSINESSWOMAN has been fined and ordered to track down a bouncy castle she sold on eBay after a court heard how a child was injured on an inflatable owned by her company.

Thomas Montgomery was left with a twisted ankle, friction burns and ringing in his ears after falling through a tear in a bouncy slide at Barry's Romilly Park in July 2004.

But the court heard that no action had been taken by Dare Bouncy Castles after a previous inspection revealed faults that could potentially have lead to children having their toes or fingers torn from their bodies.
Nicola Downing, the owner of Dare Bouncy Castles of Hirwaun, appeared at Barry Magistrates' Court after the Vale of Glamorgan Council's Environmental Health department investigated the accident. She pleaded guilty under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 to exposing members of the public to risks to their health and safety and was fined £500 with £500 costs.
Kate Thompson, the council's operational manager for regulatory services, stated that the inflatable slide had been involved in a previous accident before being sold to Downing.

The court heard that Downing had been warned by a registered inspector that the slide should have been operated with a cover in place to prevent accidents but that she did not follow the advice.

Ms Thompson said that as well as causing the slide to split, the lack of a cover meant that eyelets for fixing the cover in place were left exposed, and were large enough to catch a child's finger or toe as they used the slide and potentially tear them from the body. The magistrates were told that Downing had no previous experience of running a bouncy castle company when she bought the business as a going concern.

Mike Walsh, prosecuting for the council, requested the court make an order requiring Downing to repair the faults on the slide.

After hearing that Downing had sold the bouncy slide on online auction site eBay since the accident, the court instructed her to trace the new owner and inform them of the faults.

Hunter Jarvie, the council's cabinet member for legal and regulatory services, said, 'We take all accidents involving children very seriously and it is clear that equipment being used by children, including bouncy castles, should regularly be inspected for safety.

'All inflatable slides, castles and other amusements should be inspected and certified by a member of the Register of Play Inspectors International, which is endorsed by both the Health and Safety Executive and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents.'

After the case, Kate Thompson said, 'Parents and owners of all appliances, be they pubs, schools or children's play centres, must be vigilant when hiring out or allowing children to use, inflatables. Using bouncy castles should be fun and safe, but in this case fingers or toes could easily have been lost and it is a matter of luck that Thomas Montgomery did not suffer life-threatening injuries.'

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