Boy, 6, needed surgery after kart accident
A SIX-YEAR-OLD split his lip badly enough to require surgery under general anaesthetic after an accident at a County Durham attraction.
Whickham mum Faye Hanson said son Oscar suffered the injury while using a pedal-powered go-kart at the Holmside Park centre in Chester-le-street. He was using a vehicle by himself when he collided with a tyre barrier and in the accident suffered a facial injury.
This was on March 17 - and Faye rushed him to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Gateshead. He was then referred to the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle where he underwent surgery.
Bosses at Holmside Park sent wishes to the family hoping that Oscar makes a full recovery – but said they don’t accept any liability over what happened. The attraction’s management said there were a “range of safety procedures in place” and it has undertaken “a full investigation”.
Faye told the Chronicle she had been watching her son on the gokart track when another mum had pointed out another kind of kart was able to go faster, her son wanted to try this out. She added: “My son was very enthusiastic and he crashed into the tyres. His top lip was split
badly. He was covered in blood and I realised I needed to get him to hospital.
“We got to the Queen Elizabeth and he was referred to the RVI where he had surgery under general anaesthetic. It was awful.”
Fortunately, she said Oscar had made a good recovery – but she said she would like to see more done to protect children using the pedal karts. She said: “I don’t feel like Holmside do enough to manage the risk.”
Faye added: “I do get that kids are kids and may have bumps but I don’t think they are doing enough to mitigate the risks. I do think they should be doing more to make sure this doesn’t happen to another child.
More supervision or making them wear helmets would make a difference.”
In a statement, a spokesperson for Holmside Park said the attraction did not accept liability for what happened and had a range of safety procedures in place. They said: “We are aware of an accident that happened on our pedal kart track on 17th March involving a child. Holmside park accepts no liability for this injury or accident, but we did contact the mother expressing our wishes that the child was ok and made a full recovery.”
They said a full investigation had been completed and added: “All visitors to Holmside park watch a welcome safety video that informs customers
of what activities we have to offer at the park, and the risks around these activities. We also have displayed at the front of each activity the rules of play, like you would find at most family attraction centres.”
Bosses at Holmside added that they had checked the safety footage captured of the incident and said the twin-seater go-karts had been designed for parents and children to use together. They added: “The single height tyre barrier is in place to stop the pedal karts leaving the track, as to do so would potentially cause a much more significant injury to the rider and other members of the public using the park’s facilities. Similar to other pedal kart tracks found at other venues.”
The statement also highlighted that all pedal karts are checked daily – and that the kart in question was removed from the track and checked following the incident.
They continued: “Holmside Park tries its utmost to limit the risks to all visitors, and are proud of our overall safety record: We have full instructions during the welcome video; We have further rules of play at the entrance point; We have twin seater pedal karts so younger children and parents can ride together, reducing the risk to the child as the parent controls the speed of the pedal kart.
“We have a barrier system stopping the karts leaving the track; We are inspected regularly by the RAII and are a member of the AIP.”
1955:
Ruth Ellis shot dead David Blakely outside a pub in north London – an act for which she was subsequently hanged.
Paul Mccartney announced that he was leaving The Beatles for personal and professional reasons.
1971:
In an attempt to thaw relations with the United States, the People’s Republic of China hosted the U.S. table tennis team for a week-long visit.
1998:
The Northern Ireland peace deal was reached, called the Good Friday Agreement.
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