Parents set to sue after daughter, 8, is hurt in playpark
A HOUSING developer is being sued by the parents of a schoolgirl who was injured when she fell on to a metal grid at a playpark.
Lucy Jack needed ten stitches after tumbling onto the ‘knife-like’ grating, designed to keep dogs out of the area.
The eight-year-old sustained two deep wounds just above her left knee at the playpark in Larbert, Stirlingshire.
When her father, Scott, ran over to help he noticed a section of skin was hanging off and his daughter’s leg had been cut so deeply that bone was visible.
The 36-year-old, from Linlithgow, West Lothian, took Lucy to nearby Forth Valley Royal Hospital where doctors inserted the stitches.
He has since begun a claim against developer CALA Homes amid fears that all the grids there were installed upside down.
Local residents have since flipped them over to stop any other youngsters being hurt.
Mr Jack, a surveyor, explained his three children had been playing football after visiting his mother, whose home faces the playpark. He said: ‘When we went out we knew it was bad because of her crying, she was hysterical.’
He added: ‘The metal didn’t cut through her leggings but you could see blood through them so we pulled them down and the front of her knee flopped forward and you could see her bone.’
Describing the area, he said: ‘There’s three entrances to this playpark and various kids have fallen on there and been injured. It had been reported to the factor and CALA Homes, saying they’re dangerous.
‘A few people had said, “I think they’re upside down”. They basically looked like knife edges.’
Patrick McGuire, of Thompsons Solicitors which is handling the case, said: ‘The nasty injury she sustained could leave her scarred for life.’ He added: ‘The entire estate could see they [the grids] were installed upside down and Lucy wasn’t the first to be injured by this.’
He said the claim was directed at CALA ‘as they are responsible’ and if the firm did not respond within a set time, the matter would be taken to court.
A CALA spokesman said: ‘The play park at the Kinnaird Park development was installed for CALA in 2010 by a specialist contractor. Since 2011, the park has been entirely owned by the home purchasers at Kinnaird Park.
‘A management services company has held responsibility to maintain the common areas, including the play park, on behalf of the owners since 2012.’
Factor Hacking & Paterson did not provide a comment.