Dad who tried to 'catch child' says Clip 'n' Climb wall not 'properly monitored'

Children were invited to trial the climbing wall at a media event ahead of the Marina Centre's official opening in 2022

A dad who claimed he tried to catch a child falling "four stories" from a climbing wall said the attraction was not properly monitored.

John Daniels, 45, visited Clip 'n' Climb, at Great Yarmouth's Marina Centre, in March with his children.

He said his son's safety line was not working and minutes later he tried to break the fall of a child who fell 10m.

Great Yarmouth Borough Council, which owns the centre, said it had launched an investigation.

The company which operates the Clip 'n' Climb brand was contacted but declined to provide a comment.

The Marina Centre was rebuilt at a cost of £26m in 2022 and the climbing wall was a major feature of the project

Mr Daniels, from Norwich, said he went to the attraction with his brother-in-law and their children, and he clipped his son into one of the 14 walls.

• Listen: Norwich dad: ‘It was a horrible thing to see’

"He had been going up and down for a few minutes, only up to eight feet (2.4m) because he is only little and then he went up to around 12 feet," he said.

"I saw the auto-belay rope go slack and I thought that was a bit odd, so I climbed up and coaxed him down, and a member of staff told me that piece of equipment was out of order.

"They should have a procedure in place where that's barriered off totally and I am sure they are looking at that now."

Mr Daniels said that incident "took a few moments to sink in but was overtaken by the next turn of events".

The equipment now has gaffer tape preventing the equipment being used, but John Daniels claimed this was not the case at the time of his visit

He claimed a boy, who was not clipped in, had "climbed all the way to the top lightning fast".

"I ran over and as I was shouting to him, he turned round and looked at me and let go, thinking he's going to abseil down from 10m [33ft] up which is [like] jumping out of a fourth-storey window.

"So, I tried to catch him best I can, break his fall. But he's going so fast he falls through my arms and hits the deck flat on his back. This was a horrible thing to see.

"I'm all for taking your own responsibility... but at the same time, I think there should be better systems in place."

The BBC has asked the company operating Clip 'n' Climb, and the Freedom Leisure which operates the Marina Centre, to comment.

Great Yarmouth Borough Council owns the £26m centre which opened in 2022.

A spokesperson said: "The council is investigating after it was notified on 7 March that a child suffered minor injuries in a fall at the Marina Centre in Great Yarmouth."