Parents warned after vandals drive nails and screws through toddlers’ swing seat
Parents were shocked to find nails and screws protruding from two child swing seats in a play park.
Edyta, who did not want to give her surname, was with her son at the playground when she noticed the nails and screws which had been driven upwards into the seats of both swings.
She went straight home and told her husband Krzysztof, who went to the park and pulled out all the protruding bits of sharp metal.
Krzysztof posted photos of the vandalised swings at Hawthorn playground, just off Hawthorn Avenue in Hull, on social media to warn other parents of the danger.
He said he had ‘no doubt’ that someone had intended to hurt children.
‘My missus came back home with our son from the local playground and showed me pictures of screws and nails stuck in both swings,’ Krzysztof said.
‘I quickly grabbed some tools and went there to pull them out before anyone could get hurt.
‘I’ve posted pictures on local Facebook group, hoping that someone saw something or caught it on their CCTV.
‘Someone clearly intended to hurt children and that’s pure evil. Luckily no one was hurt and the whole thing was reported to the police.’
The incident has been reported to Humberside Police.
Neighbourhood policing sergeant Matt Langrick said: ‘Our local playgrounds and parks are there for our communities to enjoy and we will not tolerate anyone that damages them in any way or tries to harm others.
‘Local officers regularly patrol the area and I would encourage anyone with concerns or information about this incident to please come and talk to us, or call our non-emergency 101 line, quoting log 455 of Wednesday, November 22.’
Dangers at other play parks in England have raised concerns among parents recently such as this one in Kent, where one dad said ‘huge gaps’ in a bridge could be a falling hazard for young children.
And other parents in Market Harborough, Leicestershire, were unhappy about a new playground which was just a pile of logs.
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