“I thought I was going to drown”
A holidaymaker says he feared he was ‘going to drown’ after breaking his leg while getting onto a Center Parcs water slide. David Cannon had lowered himself onto the Canyon Ride at the Subtropical Swimming Paradise in Whinfell Forest, Cumbria, when he heard a ‘crack’ and felt a pain at the very start of the slide
David, 64, said he was unable to move and with the flow of the water beneath him, had to complete the slide with his leg ‘flopping’ along the way. He told the M.E.N: “The pain was unreal. At that point I’m on the slide, I can’t go back. It felt like the longest slide in the world. I had to pull myself at either side with my arms, going down like an idiot to stop my leg hurting any more.
“I had no control at that point. It had snapped. My leg was flopping around, I couldn’t move it. It was absolutely unbelievable. How I was going to get to the bottom was beyond me – I thought I was going to drown.”
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David said he had used the other slides at the Center Parcs pool with no issues before giving the Canyon Ride a go with his 14-year-old step-daughter. He watched how she had set off before trying to copy her technique, the M.E.N reported.
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Although there were information signs about the ride, David claims there was no clear guidance on how to lower yourself onto the slide. He also claims the handrail on the left-hand side was in an awkward position to use while lowering himself, although Center Parcs said all the adequate safety features are in place.
Once he reached the end of the slide, David crawled out of the pool using the steps. He said the lifeguard did not see he was struggling until his step-daughter spoke to him for help, before a Center Parcs medical team assessed him.
He added: “They could only do so much. They sat me on a chair just outside the [pool] steps, where people could walk around. People were staring at me.”
David says he waited for two hours in the same spot before an ambulance took him to Cumberland Hospital, in Carlisle. He waited in A&E for five hours, still wearing his swimming shorts, before an X-ray revealed he had broken his femur. David said: “The doctor said it was probably one of the worst injuries you can get to your leg. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.”
David was transferred to the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle, nearer to his home in Felton, Northumbria. He remained in hospital for six days, having his leg pinned and plated, with the injury still causing him ‘a lot of discomfort’ more than three months after the incident on June 5 – while he could not put any weight on his left leg for eight weeks after it happened.
David wants to see Center Parcs make changes to the ride to make sure his injury cannot happen to someone else. A spokesperson for Center Parcs said: “We understand that this must have been a distressing and painful experience for Mr Cannon, but we would like to reassure him that we have checked all the safety features of this particular element of our Subtropical Swimming Paradise, including the handrails that are in place to aid entry to the ride.
“We take the health and safety of our guests and colleagues extremely seriously and we are confident that we have the appropriate measures in place throughout the Subtropical Swimming Paradise.”
