By Phil Coleman

Last updated at 13:26, Tuesday, 01 May 2012

A young couple say their son has been injured by a metal gate in a popular Carlisle park and they are considering legal action.

Sonia Blaylock with her son Warick and the petition

Three-year-old Warick Osgood had to be rushed to A&E after the accident last week.

He suffered a centimetre long cut above his eye and needed four stitches after the heavy metal gate was pulled back by its springs and hit the toddler in the face.

His parents Darren Osgood, 34, and Sonia Blaylock, 30, have collected 100 names on a petition urging Carlisle City Council to replace the gate at Hammond’s Pond in Upperby.

Mr Osgood, an unemployed car valeter, said: “We were out at the pond last week, and in the area near the cafe where there’s a play area.

“The gate has two springs on it and it came back and hit our son in the face. He’s okay now but he will be scarred.”

Mr Osgood said that there was no first aider on hand to treat his son’s injury and he was concerned that for anybody without a mobile phone there was no readily available means of contacting the emergency services.

He and Sonia, who live at Henderson Road, Currock, Carlisle felt so strongly about the metal gate and another similar one at the park that they started the petition calling for their urgent replacement.

In just a week, they have persuaded more than 100 people to sign it.

Darren said: “I have spoken to somebody at the council’s parks and countryside department and they have said the gates are inspected on a regular basis.

“But we think they should be removed.

“One of the people who signed said that her granddaughter had an accident there two years ago.”

Mr Osgood added that he and his partner plan to take advice about their son’s accident with a view to possibly taking legal action.

A Carlisle City Council spokesperson said: “We are obviously concerned whenever issues of safety are raised, and we held a constructive meeting with Mr Osgood last week to discuss the events that led to Warick’s injuries.

“All play areas are inspected weekly and any problems are dealt with as quickly as possible. In addition the play areas are independently inspected every year by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents.”

PColeman@cngroup.co.uk

First published at 11:25, Tuesday, 01 May 2012
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk