100 injuries at Midlothian trampoline centre

A health and safety probe has been triggered at the Ryze trampoline complex. Picture: Ian Georgeson

Ryze in Mayfield Industrial Estate in Dalkeith opened a 10,000 sq ft park of trampolines late last month.

The attraction has proved hugely popular, with more than 25,000 people visiting it since it opened, but concerns have been raised about safety there and risk that it poses, with reports of serious injuries being sustained.

Claire McKenna, 39, from Bonnyrigg, said her husband, Christopher, 49, broke his neck at the attraction on 7 February. The couple had been attending a child’s birthday party there when the accident happened.

She said: “My husband only been on for a couple of minutes when he realised he was bouncing so high he wouldn’t be able to land on his feet so he landed on his bottom. But the trampoline was so springy that it threw him in a backward motion, his legs went over his head and his neck got caught underneath and I heard a sort of crunch, He was left motionless in a praying stance on his knees.”

Describing the attraction as ‘chaos’, Mrs McKenna alleged that there was a lack of proper monitoring, with people jumping from trampoline to trampoline, doing back flips, and teenagers on the same trampolines as young children.

Despite Mrs McKenna’s concerns about moving him, her husband was carried by staff to first aid room, where, she claims, the member of staff dealing with the accident was more concerned with filling out an accident form than calling an ambulance. She said he also advised her that she would be quicker driving Mr McKenna to the hospital as the ambulance would not know where the centre was because it was new.

Mr McKenna was taken to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, where doctors said he had two fractures of the vertebrae, was very lucky not to be paralysed and should never have been moved.

Mr McKenna, who is self-employed, is still wearing cervical collar and taking morphine for the pain.

Mrs McKenna said: “I just want people to be aware of the dangers and risks.”

A spokeswoman for Midlothian Council, said: “So far, we’ve received no reports of accidents at Ryze Ultimate Trampoline Park. However, having been made aware of a number of allegations of injuries, we have visited the premises and our inquiries are ongoing.”

Case Lawrence, Ryze chief executive, said that they had received 25,662 customers over the three week period and 102 injuries in that time, which represented an incident rate of a 0.39 per cent. He added: “This injury incident rate is right in line with what we see in the US and what we would expect here. It is actually better than the industry norms and we always see the incident rate decline after the first few months as the novelty wears off and people become more familiar with the rules and, frankly, as our staff gain more experience and training.”