Ava-May Littleboy coroner calls for beach-inflatable safety change

Ava-May Littleboy was playing on an inflatable trampoline when it burst on Gorleston beach

Action is needed to prevent future deaths a coroner has warned, after an inquest heard how a girl was killed when an inflatable trampoline exploded.

Ava-May Littleboy, three, from Lower Somersham, Suffolk, suffered a head injury at Gorleston, Norfolk, in 2018.

Safety concerns were raised during an inspection before Ava-May's death, but there was no legal requirement for the device not to be used.

Coroner Jacqueline Lake has written to the British Standards Institution.

Last month the inquest jury found that no procedure was in place to safely manage the trampoline's inflation and there was no safety manual.

Witnesses spoke of seeing the little girl thrown in the air when the inflatable trampoline burst

In her report, which has just been made public, Ms Lake said that four days prior to the trampoline exploding an independent firm had inspected the trampoline.

"Concerns were raised by the independent company with regard to no pre-use manufacturing paperwork being available and that not all tie downs were being used," said Ms Lake.

She said that during the inquest "evidence was heard that had the trampoline been registered under Amusement Device Inspection Procedures Scheme (ADIPS) a Category A defect would apply, namely that the device is considered as being of imminent danger to persons" and the trampoline should not be used until the problem was remedied.

But, Ms Lake said, there was "no legal requirement" for an operator to use the ADIPS inspection process and this trampoline was not registered under ADIPS.

Ms Lake called on the British Standards Institution to write back to her in 56 days saying what action it plans to take to improve the safety of this type of equipment or explain why no action is proposed.

After the inquest Ava-May's parents, Nathan Rowe and Chloe Littleboy, said: "If nothing else comes from this inquest we hope and pray that people see the serious risks these attractions can pose.

"We do not want to see other parents go through this pain."