WHEN their three-year- old son slipped and banged his head while enjoying a swim at a Hampshire leisure complex, Sophia Sillence and John White expected nothing but support from staff.

What they got instead was a police escort out of the building and an indefinite ban from ever setting foot inside the attraction again.

Sophia said she was horrified by the reaction of staff at Romsey Rapids in response to the accident that left her son needing hospital treatment for concussion.

Jaydon was playing on the pirate ship in the baby pool when he fell and hit his head.

21-year-old Sophia said: “My son came round screaming and holding his head. I then looked down and noticed the rubber matting in the pool had worn out.”

Trouble flared when Sophia, who lives in Winchester with selfemployed labourer John, was given an accident form to fill in and then asked the duty officer whether they were going to make customers aware of the “hazard”

she had found.

In response Sophia said: “He took my son’s accident form out of my hand and asked me and my family to leave. I was shocked at this response and asked why. He then pulled us to the side and asked us to keep quiet.”

An argument then erupted and Sophia claims they were surrounded by up to 15 staff before the police were called in and they were forced to leave.

John, 23, said: “I got pushed out of the door by Rapids’ staff. All I wanted was the accident form so that doctors at the hospital could see what he was given when we got there.”

Valley Leisure, which owns Romsey Rapids, denied there was a risk to public safety and defended the actions of staff. Lynn Bayliss, general manager at Valley Leisure said: “Health and safety is of paramount importance and as such Valley Leisure would take swift and immediate action if there were a health-andsafety risk posed to our customers.

The area of rubber crumb that it was alleged was the cause of the accident has been assessed both by our staff and independently and it has been deemed not to be a trip or slip hazard.”

She added that first-aid treatment was given to Jaydon and an accident form provided.

“Unfortunately the customers were extremely aggressive and intimidating towards our staff and went on to cause a major disturbance at reception to the detriment of other customers and our staff.

“The level of threat was severe enough for our staff to take the unusual step of having to call the police.

The police attended and reviewed the CCTV footage and subsequently they were banned from the premises.”