EXC: Girvan mum warns of broken glass in parks after daughter is cut

A Girvan mum is warning other parents to be careful after her 10-year-old daughter was left badly injured by broken glass in a local play park.

Chloe Johnstone exclusively told Clyde 1 her daughter was playing at Victory Park when she fell and suffered a deep cut to her leg, which was gushing with blood.

She said: "My daughter and her friend were out on a bike ride and they decided to stop and have a wee play at the park.

"They decided to play a game of hide and seek, and knelt behind something, and heard her trousers rip.

"She stood up, looked at her knee and saw that she had a big bit of glass hanging out of it.

"She video called me and my first reaction was 'oh my goodness, what has happened?'"

'It could have been a lot more serious than it was'

Doctors at A&E told her the injury could have been much more serious if it had struck an artery.

Chloe added: "I'm a carer so I cleaned the wound and treated it, but she was in quite a lot of pain as the night went on.

"The bleeding was severe, luckily I'm in healthcare because if not, it would've been quite scary for someone else to see, it was so bad.

"The doctors did tell me she was very lucky it was just on the front of her knee. If it caught her in the side of the leg, there's an artery there. If she'd put her hand on it, and it went up her wrist, that could've been a lot more serious than it was.

"My daughter is fine now, but she needed to wear a big bandage over her stitches."

'This could kill a child'

Chloe says shattered glass has been a recurring problem in play parks across South Ayrshire for months, and she’s calling for more to be done to make them safe for children.

She said: "This isn't the first time that there have been incidents with broken glass around Victory Park.

"I have a 14-year-old son as well, he goes down to play on the football pitch and my daughter plays at the park - and my husband and I are always telling them to check for glass first.

"All we've been seeing for months on the local Facebook pages is people putting up complaints that there is more and more broken glass down there, and it does seem as though it's deliberate.

"To the people leaving glass around the park - what are you playing at?

"This could kill a child. If a child fell on a piece of broken glass the wrong way, the wrong angle, it just takes one shard of glass to slice an artery and that child would be gone.

"It needs something done about it - we need CCTV up, the law needs to be involved to catch these people which are doing it."

'Behave responsibly'

Chloe said that South Ayrshire Council advised there would be more foot patrols by ground maintenance officers around the area.

A spokesperson said: "Our thoughts are with the girl and her family, we hope she has a speedy recovery.

"Our Grounds Maintenance team work hard to ensure our local areas are safe, clean and tidy.

"We ask that members of the public behave responsibly and dispose of their rubbish in the litter bins provided, which includes anything that is made of glass.

"Broken glass can be reported the Council by visiting our website or by calling Customer Services on 0300 123 0900.”

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