Parents' warnings over broken glass in new Penwortham sand pit

Several parents have taken to social media to complain that shards of glass and split cans have been found buried under the surface of the toddler’s area, which opened last month.

>>>See pictures of the playground makeover hereOne mother shared a picture of leg cuts, saying both her young son and daughter had been injured in the sandpit two weeks apart, stating: “That sand pit is NOT safe unless the council give it another clear out.”

Other people have photographed broken glass and have complained that teenagers are monopolising equipment and using foul language.

One person said: “I picked up four broken shot glasses yesterday whilst walking the dog and there were a group of kids lighting a fire - and messing around about 1 pm, definitely looked like they should have been at school. Its such a lovely park to have on our doorstep to be ruined by mindless idiots.”

South Ribble Councillor Aniela Bylinski Gelder said: ““The play area at Hurst Grange Park in Penwortham is inspected on a regular basis with particular attention paid to the sand pit. Due to the comments seen recently on social media we have increased the frequency of morning checks on the sand pit.

“To date we have only received one call to report glass in the sand pit. We haven’t had any reports to us of injuries as a result of sharp debris buried in the sandpit.”

She added: "“Whilst we are inspecting and cleaning the play area more often at present, we would always advise that parents closely supervise children playing in public sandpits in our playgrounds and call us straight away to report issues such as glass or damaged equipment on 01772 625625 (an out-of-hours emergency number is provided on the message outside normal office hours)."

Lancashire Police were contacted, but unavailable for comment.