South Wales Evening Post - 20 February 2009
Visitors to a multi-million pound leisure centre had to be treated for cuts after a glass pane mysteriously shattered — allowing shards to fall into the swimming area.
Shocked families looked on after a pane shattered at the £32 million centre, which is due to celebrate its first birthday next week.
The incident happened at around 10.30am on Wednesday, half way through a busy half-term week for the waterpark that can hold up to 450.
There were hundreds of people in the water park at the time of the incident.
The glass pane appears to have mysteriously shattered, when there was no-one near it, and glass fell into the pool area below.
Chief executive of the LC Richard Proctor said: "One of the panes blew — it shattered.
"Nothing happened to it at the time."
Mr Proctor said that, while most of the broken glass fell back onto the balcony, some shards of glass fell forward into the swimming pool area below.
He said: "Some of it fell the other side and landed in the pre-swimming shower area.
"As soon as we identified it, we closed that area off. The water pool area was still able to function.
"We shut two slides off because they come out at the bottom (where the glass fell).
"One slide was closed for about 10 minutes and the other one was closed for about two hours."
A woman and a child were treated for minor cuts to their feet by LC staff.
Mr Proctor added: "The staff were fantastic. They dealt with it very well and very quickly to ensure people's safety."
West Cross resident Jane Harris was at the pool with her three sons, William, Harry and Matthew, when the incident took place.
She said: "I saw something fall from the corner of my eye and heard people shouting.
"We got out of the pool to have a look and people were saying that a pane of glass had fallen down.
"We expected to be evacuated, but we weren't. We were surprised — no-one would have argued.
"They did seal the area off, but no one appeared to check the rest of the railings up there.
"How can this happen? It's a new building."
Mr Proctor said the cause of the incident is currently under investigation.
He said: "We contacted the contractor, who was on site at the time.
"They are going to contact the company that installed the glass."
Workmen were on site on Wednesday, carrying out external repair work to the building, but Mr Proctor said the incident was "totally unconnected" to that.
