Pools ban lending children armbands in 'health and safety' row

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The "health and safety" rule has been imposed by a council even though there are fears it could lead to a youngster drowning.

The decision has infuriated families using the three pools in Bournemouth, Dorset.

One unnamed father said: "Yes, there are germs when different people inflate the same armbands and rubber rings.

"But the time-honoured practice of mums and dads blowing them up - much to the excitement of toddlers - has been going on for decades without people keeling over from contagious illnesses.

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Safety aids: Parents have been told to bring their own

"This is a blow against common sense. What will it be next? A ban on children who cannot prove they are toilet trained?

Lindon Fielding, 32, whose young son uses the town's pools, said: "This is the nanny state gone mad. They would rather have children drown than have them catch someone's cold."

The council, which says families can still bring their own armbands, blamed rules issued by the Institute of Sports and Recreation Management.

It said they involved so much red tape it would have needed a full-time staff member just to make sure they were followed.

There would have to be a "hygiene and cleansing" programme, daily inspections for faulty valves and punctures, written guidelines for staff, specific instructions about using armbands to be given to parents and a policy to ensure that bands of the right size were issued to each child.

Leisure marketing manager Geoff Messenger said: "It was just about trying to be nice to customers, helping families who had forgotten to bring armbands, rather than making them buy a new pair.

"The regulations make it too difficult for us to do it now."

But the Institute of Sports and Recreation Management, an educational charity which helps promote the "safe and efficient" running of sport facilities, said it simply issued guidelines, which were not binding on anyone.

A spokesman said: "If you are lending out armbands you have a duty of care. People have to measure their own policy against our guidance."