Theme park in UK bans unaccompanied adults on 'child protection grounds'

SkyBlueClouds

I'm all for reasonable precautions but this just seems absurd....

Can you ever be too careful? Or was this a measure too far?

MailOnline

A theme park has banned adults unaccompanied by children from entry over fears that they could be pedophiles.

The bizarre rule at Puxton Park, in Somerset, came to light after a bird enthusiast was forbidden from watching a falconry display at the centre on his own.

Matthew Richards, 54, had visited with his three grandchildren just days earlier and wanted to return for another look at the birds of prey area - but was turned away.

The centre has appeared to contradict itself in justifying the rule - first claiming it has been in place for seven years - before then blaming it on last year's visit from jailed paedophile Phillip Judd - the former mayor of Weston-super-Mare.

Father-of-three Mr Richards was turned away at the theme park's gate on Thursday with staff telling him they did not admit single men and women on child protection grounds.

When he complained, bosses at the tourist attraction near Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, defended the bizarre rule and insisted it is 'in line with other parks' - before sanding him away.

The married father-of-three said: 'I almost feel discriminated against. I could understand it if it was for the attractions that young children only enjoy, but the falconry is of interest to all.

'I was frankly amazed. I was told the rule applies to single men, and women, for the protection of children.

'I couldn't see anything about the rule on the brochure which I picked up at another attraction.

'We have taken one of our grandchildren there before, and I saw that the falconry was there and thought it would be interesting to go back and see the displays.

'They are advertising adult memberships as gifts so I can't understand it.'
The park's managing director, Alistair Mead, has claimed the centre was 'forced to implement stringent child protection policies' because of 'the society in which we live in'.

He then alluded to the case of Phillip Judd, the former mayor of Weston-super-Mare who visited the theme park before being jailed for child pornography offences last month.

Speaking to the BBC, he said: 'If you cannot trust civic authority figures then, simply, who can you trust?

'Mr Judd had visited Puxton Park to undertake a civic duty and his sinister secrets were only recently exposed and he was jailed for his crimes.'
The reason appears to contradict the theme park's earlier claim that the rule had existed for seven years.

Mr Mead added: 'We would rather be over zealous when unaccompanied adults visit us armed with cameras than put children at any potential risk.'
The award-winning Puxton Park is a family-orientated leisure attraction which includes zip lines, a play barn, crazy golf and animal enclosures, as well as an owl zone and a falconry centre.

Mr Richards from High Littleton, near Bath, Somerset, had attended the park with his family, and returned on Thursday only intending to watch another falconry display.

But he was banned from entering by staff who claimed their rule was clearly explained on the website.

The 'prices' section online states: 'We are sorry but we are unable to let single men or women without children into the park.

'If you are here to meet someone let one of our reception staff know and they will happily do a tannoy announcement asking them to come and meet you.'
Alistair Mead earlier commented: 'There is a lot in the headlines about paedophiles and things that are going on with children.

'We have done our research and in line with all other parks we don't let single men or women in.

'We make it quite clear that if people want to go to the falconry they have to get a prior appointment, and we would take them down to the falconry centre.
'It is in the leaflet. I think if I did a survey of 100 of our customers they would agree that we are doing the right thing.'

A new statement on the leisure centre's website reads: 'Our members fully support our decisions and we have received nothing but praise for our policy including positive feedback from a Child Protection Specialist, who commended us for our child protection principals.

'Within seven years we have only had one complaint about this policy from the gentlemen last week.

'At the time of setting the policy the other parks within the area had a similar stance to us. I have spoken to two or three similar client based parks this morning and they still have the same policy as we do. I'm not going to name names as it's unprofessional of me to do so.

'In light of this coverage we will look at what other parks are doing with their admissions policy, speak to our customers and review.'

A spokesman for Visit Somerset said: 'It sounds as if Puxton Park needs to publicise this particular rule a bit more prominently.'

Sh1tbag OToole

Surely that isn't true or there is more to the story than meets the eye. The Daily Fail have a reputation for printing utter bollix

before sanding him away

Sounds like a painful way to go...

Harry Palmr

The 'prices' section online states: 'We are sorry but we are unable to let single men or women without children into the park.

to be fair at least they are not discriminating against men - a small victory

geegeebeebee

SkyBlueClouds wrote: »

I'm all for reasonable precautions but this just seems absurd....

Can you ever be too careful? Or was this a measure too far?

what utter nonsense.

Stheno

Harry Palmr wrote: »

to be fair at least they are not discriminating against men - a small victory

Yes I thought this too.

However it does seem a bit extreme to exclude all single adults

Mint Aero

and there was me planning to go to Legoland by myself never realized before that such a thing would be a problem.

Kevin McCloud

Mint Aero wrote: »

and there was me planning to go to Legoland by myself never realized before that such a thing would be a problem.

You will be ok to go to legoland the rides are not severe at all.

Cookie_Monster

so every single person is considered a paedo by default now by this (and other) park, cool.

Manach

On the one hand, the discrimination industry is unlikely to take up arms against this as it does not target the usual victim classes.
On the other there does seem to be an element of hysteria in the decision. The nebulous ground of child protection strings together enough buzz words so as to make it seem legalise as well as place anyone arguing against it prey to the "think of the children" rhetoric.
If they do not want business, then they can see if their economic model survives their decision.

geegeebeebee

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

so every single person is considered a paedo by default now by this (and other) park, cool.

its the same in public parks that have a childrens play ground ! no lone adults allowed apparently, male or female !

SEPT 23 1989

He will just have to play with his falcon someplace else

SkyBlueClouds

Manach wrote: »

On the one hand, the discrimination industry is unlikely to take up arms against this as it does not target the usual victim classes.
On the other there does seem to be an element of hysteria in the decision. The nebulous ground of child protection strings together enough buzz words so as to make it seem legalise as well as place anyone arguing against it prey to the "think of the children" rhetoric.
If they do not want business, then they can see if their economic model survives their decision.

Yep. Branding every single lone adult with the same brush is just plain stupid and won't solve anything.

Cookie_Monster

geegeebeebee wrote: »

its the same in public parks that have a childrens play ground ! no lone adults allowed apparently, male or female !

can't we just ban kids. then this problem would disappear.

mikemac1

You'll find the same rules from Dublin City Council

You wander around my local park all day if you want but you cannot enter the playground if you don't have a child with you

Not that I would be entering the playground but the signs are there anyway.

Now if they'd only kick the football players out of the basketball court! :mad: Pitches all around but you can't play basketball as the lads insist on kicking their ball in there.

geegeebeebee

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

we can't we just ban kids. then this problem would disappear.

yes it would !! although i think the issue with the parks with playgrounds has been forgotten as over the summer just past i seen plenty childless adults relaxing in the park and no gardai in sight !

if this madness is allow to continue , eventually any one who is childless will have to wear blinkers in pubic. even though im pretty sure that pedos often have children of their own ! which makes the banning of childless adults fairly pointless !

geegeebeebee

mikemac1 wrote: »

You'll find the same rules from Dublin City Council

You wander around my local park all day if you want but you cannot enter the playground if you don't have a child with you

Not that I would be entering the playground but the signs are there anyway.

Now if they'd only kick the football players out of the basketball court! :mad: Pitches all around but you can't play basketball as the lads insist on kicking their ball in there.

cork county council has gone a step further and said that you cant even be in the park itself ! it hasnt been policed as far as i can tell though !

lazybones32

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

so every single person is considered a paedo by default now by this (and other) park, cool.

No, only single men.

Reminds me of the Quantas(?) event from about 2-3 years ago. Asked a man to change seats because the airline seated him beside a child and feared he would sexually assault the child. Us men must be right f**kers!

lazybones32

geegeebeebee wrote: »

cork county council has gone a step further and said that you cant even be in the park itself ! it hasnt been policed as far as i can tell though !

Are you serious or taking the pish? How can they tell you not to enter Public Grounds?

geegeebeebee

lazybones32 wrote: »

Are you serious or taking the pish? How can they tell you not to enter Public Grounds?

for child safety reasons ! there was uproar in the town when people discovered that this policy was going to be introduced , as people with or without children would often go there in fine weather to have lunch or just to relax before the playground was relocated to a small section of the park.

as i said it seems that it has not been actively enforced thus far

iguana

I've just taken a look at the website and pretty much the whole park is aimed at children, so I can see their point. This isn't a place like Alton Towers that's aimed more for older kids and adults or Legoland which is an all ages attraction. With a few minor exceptions nothing in this park is aimed at anyone past their mid-teens, so the rule is understandable and this 'story' is just DM clickbait.

mikemac1

Falconry is not for kids. And that's what the guy in the OP was barred from getting to

Chunners

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

so every single person is considered a paedo by default now by this (and other) park, cool.

In all fairness this and stuff like this has been happening to Gay males for years now, the default assumption that they are also pedophiles, it's not something new it is just something new to straight people

riffmongous

One of the other stories on the mail was relating to the story of April Jones, who was abducted and murdered by a paedophile who was a father of six children..

Gatling

Imagine boards used a policy like this

NomadicGray

No single men or women? So can two paedophiles go in together and tag team the **** out of someone?

Chunners

NomadicGray wrote: »

No single men or women? So can two paedophiles go in together and tag team the **** out of someone?

I am not even going to say whats not funny about that question but if you don't know there is seriously something wrong with you

Earl Turner

NomadicGray wrote: »

No single men or women? So can two paedophiles go in together and tag team the **** out of someone?

Probably could. They could pretend to be a pair of gay dads.

Chunners

This

Earl Turner wrote: »

Probably could. They could pretend to be a pair of gay dads.

Proves this

Chunners wrote: »

In all fairness this and stuff like this has been happening to Gay males for years now, the default assumption that they are also pedophiles, it's not something new it is just something new to straight people

Just saying like :rolleyes:

Earl Turner

No place is going to turn away homosexuals these days out of fear of a discrimination lawsuit.

Chunners

Earl Turner wrote: »

No place is going to turn away homosexuals these days out of fear of a discrimination lawsuit.

And you can tell by looking the difference between two gay men and two straight men that are just friends? like is there a criteria that you follow? should gay men go to the ticket counter and say "Aww sure you can let us in we're a couple"? sorry I'm just trying to understand your thinking here, explain to me how people selling tickets are suppose to know the difference between say two gay males going in with their nieces and nephews and two brothers going in with their sons and daughters?

Carlos Orange

lazybones32 wrote: »

No, only single men.

Reminds me of the Quantas(?) event from about 2-3 years ago. Asked a man to change seats because the airline seated him beside a child and feared he would sexually assault the child. Us men must be right f**kers!

I still think someone should write a story about airlines expecting women to take care of unaccompanied children and this policy would evaporate over night.