Shropshire outdoor adventure centre fined after girl fell from rope course

Live the Adventure in Stottesdon was sentenced at Shrewsbury Crown Court, the company admitted in August that it failed to protect members of the public attending their ropes course.

The case was brought by Shropshire Council’s public protection team following a serious fall of approximately 20ft from a High Ropes Course by an 11-year-old schoolgirl from Newtown Primary School who was on a school residential trip at Live the Adventure. She was airlifted to hospital with suspected foot and back injuries and continues today to receive treatment.

At the time of the accident, the 11-year-old was on part of the ropes course traversing between two trees using ropes at height when she fell. The subsequent investigation into the matter identified the likely cause as being a small home-made piece of rubber bicycle inner tube added to part of the equipment worn by the child. The use of this small piece of rubber disguised the fact that the rope which was meant to support her weight was not correctly looped through a karabiner being worn by the child, and this was missed by the instructors before the child left the tree platform. The end result was the rubber was the only thing holding the girl to the rope, which inevitably snapped.

Owners, Ant and Steph Eddies-Davies have run the leading outdoor activity centre Live the Adventure for the last 25 years.

They said today: “We are deeply sorry that this incident occurred and are grateful to the Judge for acknowledging that the risk of false clipping was not universally understood across the industry at the time of the incident. This has subsequently become better known across the industry and is a valuable lesson.

"The Judge also noted our exemplary safety record and acknowledged that even the employment of a technical advisor may not have prevented it from happening.

“This is the first serious incident in our history and we have welcomed more than 500,000 people to our centre at Stottesdon over the last quarter of a century.”

The family run centre works with groups from all over the world, including schoolchildren, adults of all ages and abilities, as well as being a training provider for many outdoor governing bodies here and abroad.

Karen Collier, health and community protection operations manager with public protection, said:

“Public protection view breaches of health and safety provisions very seriously, and this avoidable incident demonstrates the serious consequences to those affected. This whole matter could have been avoided had Live the Adventure Ltd given proper regard to the advice it had received from external organisations and had properly risk assessment their equipment and procedures, especially when they introduced changes to their equipment. This was not done, and as a result the chance of a serious accident or even a fatality increased.”

Mal Price, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for public protection, added:

“Any case where a child is injured is of great concern to everyone, and I would like to offer our best wishes to the child and her family and hope for a speedy recovery. I hope this case serves as an important reminder to all businesses the responsibility they have for protecting the health and safety of members of the public attending their premises and activities. Businesses need to consider very carefully the different risks that they expose individuals to, and introduce appropriate measures to reduce or prevent these risks if they cannot be avoided altogether. If anyone has any concerns, or requires any advice on any aspect of the health and safety management at their business, please make contact with the public protection team.”