Dragon Duncan in even deeper trouble as roof caves in at gym’s pool
After claim that dirty towels are refolded and handed to members...
THESE are the shocking images that show the moment a ceiling collapsed into a swimming pool at an exclusive health club owned by the former Dragons’ Den star Duncan Bannatyne.
A large ‘air-handling’ unit and plasterboard landed just feet from a startled club member. And only a few minutes earlier, swimmers had been in the water.
The incident was captured on security cameras at the Tower 42 club in Old Broad Street in the heart of the City of London.
Officials at the City of London Corporation, who are responsible for public safety in the Square Mile, have launched an urgent investigation into the matter.
The £650-a-year club is already embroiled in a scandal after staff were secretly filmed rummaging through piles of dirty towels before refolding some to be used by customers. But the new images could prove even more embarrassing to Clydebank-born multi-millionaire Bannatyne, 67, who is dating Uzbek beauty Nigora Whitehorn, 36. The tycoon owns over 60 health clubs.
Before the incident happened, a notice had been placed in the club informing customers that the pool would be closed while ‘emergency’ repairs were carried out – showing that managers were aware it was a potential hazard.
A gym member, who did not wish to be named, told The Mail on Sunday that she and others had been in the pool about 15 minutes before the incident. She said she was later relaxing in the sauna when she heard a series of loud noises like ‘gunshots’, adding that she was in shock for weeks afterwards and even suffered nightmares. She said the panels looked heavy, adding: ‘I am sure they could knock you out or badly injure you if one dropped on your head.’
A spokesman for the Bannatyne Group rejected ‘any suggestion of cost cutting’ and backed its staff, insisting they made ‘reasonable assessments with the information available’ before the incident, which happened last November.
He added: ‘A simple malfunction in an air-handling unit caused excessive moisture, resulting in some plasterboard sections falling into part of the pool. Repairs were carried out quickly and the facility was out of service for a few days.’
He also said the company was ‘appalled’ at the dirty towels footage and had taken ‘disciplinary action’.