THE parents of a 20-month old girl have vowed not to return to Malvern Splash after they were told that their daughter could not go down the pool’s water slide with her father, but would be allowed to ride alone.

Laura Jenkins visited the pool on Sunday (April 11) with her partner Julian Westcott and their daughter Charlotte.

But she made an official complaint to the Splash after a lifeguard insisted that Charlotte could not ride the flume with her father but could go down alone.

Miss Jenkins said she was shocked by the “ridiculous” situation.

“Obviously Charlotte did not go down the slide on her own,” she said. “She can’t swim, she could have banged her head on the way down or turned around and ended up going head first. She could have drowned.”

She added that other pools had let Charlotte ride with her father.

“We have never been to Malvern Splash before and we never will again,” she continued. “We would like to but I don’t think they have got their health and safety sorted out.”

Malvern Splash spokesman Claire James said the flume is operated to the manufacturer’s guidelines, which only permit single riders.

“The rules for riding are clearly displayed at the bottom of the flume ride where it states that it must be ridden by single riders and that those riders must be over one metre in height,” she said.

“On this particular occasion the gentleman was advised that we do operate a single rider policy and the he would not be able to travel down the flume with his daughter on his knees.

“Obviously, due to the age of his child, she would not have met the height requirements and therefore would not have been permitted to ride the flume as a single rider.”

She added that there is a metre rule at the bottom of the flume so parents can check their child’s height before climbing to the top.

“Following this incident we have given all of our lifeguards refresher training on the guidelines relating to the flume, particularly in relation to the height of single riders,” she said.

Malvern Splash is contacting Miss Jenkins about her complaint.