Killjoy council officials forced a father to scrap his daughter’s swing set in case other children play on it.
Tony Carter has had to tear down the swings in his garden on the grounds they could pose a threat to neighbourhood youngsters despite being behind a fence.
It was his second run-in with Canterbury City Council in Kent after the authority also forced him to remove a shallow paddling pool.
Officers warned Mr Carter that the set he put up for his daughter, Marnie, would have to be removed because they were in front of a communal garden on an estate.
The 42-year-old says his offer to unclip the swings when they were not in use was turned down because that would still invalidate the council’s insurance.
‘The flat is ground floor on a main road but there is a fence about three-and-a-half feet tall around it,’ he said. ‘We got permission two years ago that we could have the swings up but we received a call from the council saying we have to take them down.
‘They say if kids jump over the fence and go on them and hurt themselves the council will be responsible. Unless we can supervise the swings the whole time, we have to remove them. It’s ridiculous.
‘They won’t compromise either – I asked if I could just unhook the swings each night but they said the whole frame has to come down.’
Mr Carter says four-year-old daughter Marnie Sparks-Carter was in floods of tears when her toy was taken away.
‘Her and her little mates love going on those swings and now they can’t,’ he said. ‘Marnie was really upset, she doesn’t understand why they need to be taken down. I just told her it’s because it’s muddy and cold outside.’
Mr Carter also slammed the council for making him remove a shallow paddling pool from outside the flat, where Marnie lives with her mother.
‘We had a paddling pool out there once too and we were told we couldn’t have that out there either unless it was supervised the whole time,’ he said.
An East Kent Housing spokesman says the swings are in an area of communal garden.
‘We have therefore advised the tenant that she can have them up provided her children are using them on a supervised basis, and that she must remove them when they are not in use,’ he said.
‘This is because the council’s insurance would not cover any accidents if the swings were to be used by others.’
so they are letting him keep the fence? wow …… fences can be dangerous too
everything thing is dangerous!
true, and a city council telling us what we can do on our property is very dangerous
so dangerous in fact , that everyone should view them and treat them as a threat
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I can’t help but laugh my arse off…………..the pathetic mentality of Americans is beyond belief. Our enemies must surely be laughing their butts off as well. Like I always say: I want Americans for my slaves as there is absolutely no limits on what you can do to them and all they will do is complain a little…..as long as the tv is working and the booze and poison food keeps flowing you could not ask for better slaves.
Kinganu, we must one day have coffee. I do not share your view of we Americans. I will likely have to put in considerable hours expounding on the strengths and capabilities of Americans and their total unwillingness to be slaves. Surely a percentage is asleep at the wheel, but many are on the front-lines, standing against tyranny. You might have noticed that swing story was from the UK.
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You are correct galen…..i have a bad habit of over generalizing and as you say…not all americans are asleep at the wheel.
I didnt notice that this happened in the UK but I see plenty of the same kind of things happening here.
I’d enjoy a cup of coffee with you as it is quite refreshing to have a conversation with someone who can still think.
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What, you kiss your queens ass, and you think your free? Please spare me the patronizing BS, bow down to your bitch and kiss her smelly ass.