Cops retrieve 'risky' trampoline

By VERONICA LORRAINE
The Sun
Jul. 06, 2007

FOUR cops were sent to a mum’s home — to demand her daughter’s garden TRAMPOLINE.

Stunned Charlotte Richmond, 27, opened her front door to two PCs and a pair of police community support officers.

They were backed by THREE council officials — and insisted safety rules meant Charlotte must surrender the 14ft trampoline.

She had splashed out Ł280 for the sports kit less than a month ago as a sixth birthday gift for daughter Katie-Jane, a gymnast.

Mum-of-two Charlotte said she was left baffled by the demand because she always supervises her daughter’s bouncing and even installed a safety net.

Charlotte, of Tadworth, Surrey, said: “I begged for it to stay and they agreed, as long as I took it down myself. I’m amazed the police didn’t have anything else better to do.”

The cops’ visit followed a verbal warning from the local housing officer. Officials said the council-owned garden, for which Charlotte pays a Ł650- a-year service charge, was theirs and the trampoline breached regulations.

They even warned her year-old son Jack’s “unsafe” sandpit could be filled in.

Local Tory MP Chris Grayling said: “Surrey Police are always pleading manpower shortages but provided four police personnel, totally lowering their credibility.”

Merton Council said: “Trampolines carry an element of risk as any insurance available would not cover the council in an accident.”