Liquid Leisure - Broken Leg - Aqua Park

[Hammeri1]

I have a cautionary tale and an appeal for help.

On Sunday June 19th I visited Liquid Leisure Inflatable Aqua Park in Windsor with my family. It was my surprise Father’s Day gift.

My 12 yr old daughter and I went on the main course along with around 60 other people. I was immediately concerned by the loose velcro joins between the inflatable sections.
The gaps and loose fabric were an obvious entrapment risk. After 15 mins I slipped on a small sloping section, my right leg went under the loose velcro and became trapped and then broke in 2 places, fibula and tibia.
I heard it break. The lifeguards got me to the bank but didn’t think I’d broken my leg, saying it was probably ligaments. They gave me ice and crutches. They then said it was ok for my eldest daughter to finish the session unaccompanied on the course and I’m ashamed to say I didn’t stop her. They gave me ice and crutches. I found my wife and with her help managed to get out of my wetsuit and dressed.
Finally I made my way about 200m, on crutches, to the exit.
We called 111 and they arranged for an assessment at Reading Hospital. There the triage nurse immediately suspected a broken leg which was quickly confirmed by X-ray.

I’ve just returned home after a week in hospital and an operation to fix a steel plate and screws to my fibula and wire around my tibia. I’m in plaster facing 2 weeks keeping my leg above my heart, another 4 completely non-load bearing, another 6 with very light load. Summer ruined for me and the whole family and my ankle will never be the same again.
I’ve never broken a bone or suffered a dislocation.

I reported the incident to Environmental Health who have already visited the site and begun an investigation.
They have specifically asked that if anyone else has been injured at the park to come forward and I would urge anyone who has suffered to do so. Please write to [email protected].

The park advertises family fun for kids 6yrs and up. What they don’t do is make you aware of the many risks of serious injury.
They insist you sign a waiver before participating but don’t emphasis the significant risk of injury.
Interestingly their terms and conditions do say that anyone prone to dislocating joints or who has suffered a dislocation avoid the park but this message is given no prominence on their site or physical media at the park.
On a warm day 4000 or more visit the park. There have
been serious accidents and there will be more. I want to make sure people only participate when they are fully aware of the risks.
My advice is find your water based fun another way.

@Homez Agree - they run birthday parties with 10 kids. There needs to be a regulation on number of adults to kids for these things (I don't think there is but don't know for sure). And parents need to have a separate safety talk. For Aqua Parks its not just swimming ability, but upper body strength to pull yourself up. The kids are, imo, allowed on inflatables that are too big. There should be age restrictions as well.

@Wheresthebeach According to the Dad in his interview, there was only one lifeguard monitoring the beach area of the lake, which was the case when we were there too. Yet there were so many people of all ages in and out of the water. At the time I thought it was odd, particularly compared to the strict ratios of lifeguards to swimmers that there are in leisure centre swimming pools. It didn’t seem right at all.

Folks, just a thought and if anyone has more knowledge on this please correct me.

If LL don’t have planning permission, are they, effectively, uninsured?

Wouldn’t whoever issues their insurance policies require them to operate with planning permission?

That's an interesting point.

It seems the accident was in the swimming area, not the aqua park, so they may be fine as they have permission for water sports.

If they've no planning permission for the aqua park then I'd presume whoever they have insurance with would use that to get out of any payments. Although I'm surprised that they could get insurance, without showing that all planning etc was okay. It's a bit of a weird one.

Maybe ask MN to move this to Chat? Might be others who know more in a more active part of the site.

@Wheresthebeach

Thanks, I’ll follow up with MN.

Point 10 in the following suggests swimming is part of the enforcement notice:

www.casemine.com/judgement/uk/62ab78deb50db9b9d68ec192

@Hammeri1 Exactly - they were my thoughts too. The original licence was strictly for water sports / windsurfing only, but not for running it as a large party venue with giant inflatables for all & sundry. They are obviously two very different things, particularly in terms of sheer volume of visitors…the risks inherent are clearly different.
I would very much assume that any insurance policy would rely on appropriate planning & permissions being in place.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-62577457

So all the tributes removed? That's terrible.