Call for anti skateboarding "blades" to be removed by council after child, 4, suffers horrific injury in city centre

A little boy may have been left scarred for life after striking his head on an anti-skateboarding "blade" in Manchester city centre. Finley Richards, aged four, suffered a deep gash to his forehead in the accident in Cathedral Gardens.

Now his father, Paul, is calling for the council to remove the metal protrusions which are embedded in paving around the greens between Manchester Cathedral and the National Museum of Football.

Paul, from Didsbury, and his family had attended a folk festival at the location. "Finley was running around with other kids on the grass just outside the kids activity tent. He has fallen over and landed on this blade. It was very traumatic, lots of blood, he was rushed to hospital by ambulance," said Paul.

"Your natural reaction is to put your hands out to break your fall. In this instance as my daughter has described it, if this stopper had not been there he probably wouldn't have even hit his head. But because it protrudes so much his head hit it.

"Skateboarders like to do this thing called grinding - so they flip the board up and then grind across the paving and drop off. So it is meant to protect the council's steps. I have researched other suppliers of these protrusions and one does a version which is only meant to protrude 5mm and has a rounded edge. Whereas these are 3cm and are more like a skateboard blade sticking out of the ground.

"Finley is doing okay, he is a resilient little lad. His sister, Erinn, who is nine, is more traumatised as she witnessed it. There is a high possibility that Finley could be scarred for life, it was a big wound. It just depends how it heals. I don't want him walking around with a big scar in the middle of his forehead.

"The hospital glued the wound and used paper stitches. They were very reluctant to use conventional stitches as they said that would definitely scar him.

"The event was a festival but with a big family slant to it. The event organisers I must say have been absolutely great and helpful in every way. It is an event space which is provided by the council to them. My understanding is that the council is the occupier of the land."

Paul added: "The festival organiser was great and they submitted an accident report. I contacted the council, and spoke to a lady who didn't seem particularly interested. She said she would pass it on but said it would be unikley anything would be done about it."

He has also submitted a Freedom of Information request to the council seeking more details on why the council chose the specific type of protrusion and the installation instructions. He has also reported the incident to GMP and the Health and Safety Executive.

"I took it to my MP, Jeff Smith, and he is taking it up with executives at the council. He is also asking that the council reviews its policy of installing these. There are loads of them in Cathedral Gardens and they are in Exchange Square.

"They are in areas where they will be holding the Christmas markets. So my point of view is that, if an adult fell on on them they could suffer a catastrophic brain injury. I think they all need to be removed.

"I have been looking into the law and as the occupiers of the land the council has an extended duty of care where children are involved - and children use those areas. What I find particularly bad is that a lot of skateboarders are children and children can be a bit more reckless than adults. They are specifically targeting children with these installations which I pretty confident give rise to a criminal offence of wilful neglect, as they have not considered the dangers when they have put them in."

In response to a formal complaint Paul made to GMP about the incident, the force told him: "The incident that has been reported to GMP, is a complaint for the council and not something that GMP can deal with at this stage.

"We appreciate that you have outlined laws that are in place, however these are not recordable offences that we can submit a crime report for and what the police can deal with/ investigate. At this stage we would advise seeking legal advice from a solicitor."

Paul said: "I think this creates a dilemma. How is the local authority investigated when they potentially have committed a crime? I think under the HSE website this falls under, possibly, hostile architecture, which is quite a new phenomenon, and a massive grey area. It has been used before to deter homeless people, but I think use is dangerous."