Safety crackdown on play equipment

8:57am Thursday 24th August 2006

Trading standards inspectors have continued their secret testing of hire equipment with a purge on Oxfordshire's bouncy castle companies.

Less than a month after two women were killed in Co Durham when an inflatable sculpture containing dozens of people was blown 50ft into the air by a gust of wind, officers from County Hall hired four inflatables over two days for covert testing.

And, although none of the Oxfordshire companies' bouncy castles failed the rigorous testing, each firm will be contacted after inspectors thought more could be done to improve safety.

The inflatables were tested because there is no agreed standard in law applying to the hire of bouncy castles.

Last month's tragedy occurred after the inflatable came free from its moorings in a park in Chester-le-Street, Co Durham, smashed into a post supporting a CCTV camera and hit the ground 60 feet away, spilling people out.

Each year there are 4,000 reported accidents involving children on inflatables.

Oxfordshire trading standards officer Richard Webb said: "We had four bouncy castles delivered over two days. None was considered to pose a significant safety risk, but all four had points that need improving.

"We would not consider any of the castles dangerous, but think the businesses concerned could take steps to improve safety.

"These were a combination of problems with design or maintenance and poor set-up."

Mr Webb added that officers would be contacting all bouncy castle hire businesses in Oxfordshire to provide advice.