Close down play arena Sheffield Little London Road

On the 8th of September I attended the Play Arena – Sheffield with my family and my twin foster children to celebrate the birthday of my 4 year old great niece.

I am shocked and disgusted by events that occurred during this visit

My 3 year old great nephew was enjoying his visit and came to our table directly next to the coffee shop to have a drink, as children do he finished his drink and ran off towards the back area to the left of the serving area of the coffee shop, there was a square table on the end of the serving table and my nephew ran full force into the corner of the table splitting his eyebrow open. My sister ran to him, he was frightened and had blood pouring down his face, I looked for a member of staff, the lady on reception walked over and said and did nothing, followed by a man who just stood there and looked blankly. I asked him if he was going to do something and he said nothing! We had to get our own serviettes to stem the blood flow; meanwhile the only two members of staff on duty were doing nothing at all to help.

My sister grabbed her bag and her partner and tried to leave to take him to the hospital, on the way out my sisters partner asked the man on duty for some medical tape to hold the cut together, he pulled out a first aid kit from the reception area and had none in there, infact there was virtually nothing in the kit at all.

While we were attempting to get my nephew off to the hospital I looked for the 21 month twins only to realise that one of them had opened the entry gate and was by the front door which looks out onto the car park, the gate was not locked and when I asked the male staff member why it was open he said, you should have been watching her.

When they left my family and I made it clear to the two members of staff on duty that the table was in a very dangerous place and that it should be moved as it was a safety hazard, we were told that the 3 year old should not have been running!

I clearly felt that the twins were not safe in the venue and called a taxi and left, but my niece had to remain as there were several more family members due to arrive to see my great niece for her birthday.

My niece phoned me to tell me that the male member of staff had come over and asked her to fill in an accident book, she was not given a copy of the form and no one had signed it from the play centre. When they realised this, my other niece asked for the book back to photograph it and the staff member refused, so she took it from him and took the photo anyway. The book had been placed back into a cupboard so it is clear to us that he had no intention of signing it.

My sister returned to the venue with my nephew who had had butterfly stitches and was given concussion advice by the hospital. My niece reported to me that the owner had arrived some 45 minutes before and that discussions had been had at the coffee serving table about what had happened and that the owner had confirmed that the table was safe and that the child should not be running around.

I feel it is important to add that the owners young children had come with her and that both of them ran behind the counter and were touching the fresh cakes and uncovered food on the counter, this clearly is a breach of food safety standards.

My niece moved the table out of the way and the staff moved it back, telling her it was safe there and that the child should not have been running, this was enforced by the owner.

My sister waited for the owner to come and talk to her, at no stage did she attempt to so my sister approached her. Again the owner said that the child should not have been running and that the table was safe, after some discussion she did finally agree to replace the table with a round one.

My great nephew has a horrible cut that will scar, he has swelling and bruising and all because a square table was placed in a dangerous place, had that been a round one from the start it would not have been as bad as it was.

This venue had only 2 staff members covering the entire place.
The venue is filthy dirty, the floors are sticky and the equipment dusty and grubby
The baby changing facility was covered in excrement, the toilet facilities were not of a decent standard of hygiene.
The food safety standards are of serious concern.
The safety of the children within the centre is apparently of no concern to staff or management.
I feel strongly that action should be taken to ensure the safety of future children using this venue, the management clearly do not feel that this is their responsibility but that of the parents. If a 3 year old child is not allowed, or is not safe to run around in a soft play center designed allegedly for children to play and let off steam, where can they?

I am disgusted with this venue, the staff and the management and would appreciate someone investigating this play area to ensure that safety standards and training for staff are improved to ensure future children do not go through what my nephew did.