YOUNG Cameron Chilcott, who attends Court Fields School, came a right cropper in the play area at the Recreation Ground in Wellington, breaking both his wrists and an elbow.

Cameron, 12, was also left with blood pouring from his mouth when he fell from a piece of play equipment and after the incident his Mum called for it to be cordoned off so it could not be used. Tina Chilcott, of Pear Tree Way, Wellington, said:

“I don’t want it to happen to anyone else.”

But Taunton Deane Borough Council has subsequently had the equipment inspected and says it does not need to take it out of use.

The equipment includes a solid metal pole about 8ft off the ground which runs from one platform to the other with a handle bar the children hold on to. Youngsters either wiggle their bodies or get a push to give them the momentum to get from one end to the other but, Tina says, they often find it too hard to get all the way along and drop down from the pole. It cannot be reached from the ground, so children leap from one of the platforms to get to the handle bar – which is how Cameron fell and hurt himself.

Tina said: “A lot of children go there for play before they go home, so I wasn’t with him when it happened. His friends had gone, he thought: ‘I’ll just have one more go around the assault course’.

“He’s jumped from the platform hundreds of times before; all his friends do it. He didn’t think anything of it but on this occasion he missed and ended up in a sorry state.”

Cameron shouted for help as mums were in the park with younger children and two women went over to him and called the school, which contacted Tina. She phoned her husband James, who runs C&C Carpets in Mantle Street, who took him to A&E at Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton.

Cameron stayed there overnight before having surgery the next morning. He had his arms manipulated back into place and set in plaster, and left hospital late in the evening.

His Mum added: “He’s full of regret and says he’s never going there again. He gets upset because you would if you have to shout to your mum that your nose is itching. He can’t have a drink, do anything at all.” Last week his parents were set to have a meeting with the school to see how his return could be managed.

She said a friend’s daughter broke her arm on the same equipment last year and has contacted the company which manufactured and installed it and the firm is going to investigate. She also said she had contacted Taunton Deane Borough Council.

She wants to know if any other children have hurt themselves on the play equipment – she can be contacted by email at [email protected]

A spokeswoman for TDBC said: “The equipment is regularly inspected and is EN1176 and EN1177 compliant. It has been in use since November 2012. 

“We have zip wires in several of our playgrounds and have not had other incidents with their use. However, we investigate all accidents as a matter of course.

“In this case a full investigation has been carried out with an independent play equipment inspector. The inspector’s view was that the equipment was not defective and had been installed and maintained correctly.

“His advice was that we did not need to take the equipment out of use.”