Children cut by glass in slide

A Tauranga mother is hesitant of letting her children loose on the city's waterfront playground after both her sons suffered cuts from shattered beer bottles lodged inside the playground's slide.

Lisa Bell was on her way home to Grace Road from Mount Main Beach about 1pm Good Friday when she stopped to let her sons Logan, 6, and Alex, 5, play at the waterfront.

Lisa Bell and sons Alex (front) and Logan at the waterfront playground.

On arrival Lisa noticed shattered glass and broken beer bottles scattered around the playground, something she found surprising as there were many other families with children playing on the equipment.

As she picked up the glass from the ground, her sons emerged from the slide with cuts from glass that was wedged between the grooves of the slide.

Logan had cuts to his right foot and Alex received cuts to his finger, says Lisa.

'There was a bit of glass around and then both my boys went down the slide and came out with a cut each,” says Lisa.

'They were pretty minor, but they did bleed. We went to investigate and found quite a few small shards of glass in the slide, and also at the bottom of the slide where you stand up.

'The glass was lodged in the grooves, so we are wondering whether someone has biffed a beer bottle at the playground and it's smashed and gone everywhere.”

Lisa immediately phoned Tauranga City Council and a City Care contractor was sent to cordon-off the slide and inspect the surrounding area. The slide was later reopened.

Tauranga City Council parks operations team leader, Steve Webb, says the City Care report shows glass was discovered at the top on the slide's platform, at the bottom, and in the ground's surface in what looks to be a smashed stubbie.

'I would imagine it would have happened on Thursday night and then with the torrential rain we had on Friday morning probably nobody would have been using the playground that afternoon,” says Steve.

'Across the city - glass in playgrounds is a problem from time-to-time, but it's not ongoing and not one place usually. This is the first time we have had a report of it at the waterfront playground.”

Despite the minor cuts, Lisa says the incident serves as a warning to parents of the potential dangers around playgrounds, and she is wary her children's injuries could be far more severe next time.

'It makes you stop and think what else could be around here. We picked up quite a bit of glass while we were there.

'That one in particular because you look at the railway line and there is broken beer bottles all around there. Just being right there in town with the drunken idiots in town at night, of course they are going to wander over there.”

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7 comments

broken glass in park

Posted on 22-04-2014 12:54 | By rosscoo

I said from beginning when park was first suggested on waterfront not a good idea in front of the bars. Should have developed Memorial park as a city park and was already established just needed more attractions but our TCC want to spend rate payer money on additional parks while others go to ruins


Clever Council

Posted on 22-04-2014 13:27 | By Jimmy

Should have seen this coming, putting a playground right across the road from the Clubs and Pubs.


Watchdog

Posted on 22-04-2014 13:47 | By Watchdog

Put parking back in the waterfront AND make it free! You might get more people in and then go to the playground at Memorial Park,


itis a city park user beware

Posted on 22-04-2014 14:00 | By rotovend

for goodness sake people its a great area the tauranga waterfront, possibly a solution would be a 7am or earlier depending on daylight cleanup of the area and if I saw glass around the area I would certainly presume the cleaners hadnt been and keep the kids off until I was sure it was safe. Most of the parks around Tauranga get idiots on them at night, more cameras with better follow-up would be a start and the bars are not supposed to let people leave with bottles so their security needs picking up or its just the roughies that come from elsewhere


News for you...

Posted on 22-04-2014 15:38 | By penguin

...Jimmy and rosscoo. Windermere Park and playground has its share of glass and it is nowhere near pubs or bars!


this

Posted on 22-04-2014 21:53 | By Capt_Kaveman

is not news when police let unruly underlife free on the streets at night


GET REAL

Posted on 23-04-2014 12:19 | By Colleen Spiro

It is not the park, the location, the equipment....it is the deviant and evil people that some of our Society are.


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