A TEN-year-old boy needed hospital treatment for a suspected broken wrist after falling from play equipment.

John Howard

A TEN-year-old boy needed hospital treatment for a suspected broken wrist after falling from play equipment.

The accident has prompted the Health and Safety Executive to contact Needham Market Town Council, who spent £120,000 installing the new area by the end of July for the summer holidays, to assess whether they need to launch an investigation.

The incident comes after the authority installed the new vandal proof facilities, which have been in use through the summer, but only officially open tomorrow.

The area includes a giant swing, two climbing frames, one with a climbing wall, the other with a zip wire style attraction, and a skateboard simulator.

Elizabeth Durrant, town clerk, said: “We are looking into this and investigating how it could have happened.

“The equipment is so new and we have our official opening this weekend. It is safe, otherwise we could not let children use it, and we have no intention of closing the area.”

Miss Durrant added that the council had an independent check by ROSPA, The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, and the equipment has been health and safety checked before children could use it.

A spokesman for the Health and Safety Executive said last night: “We will contact the town council to find out exactly what happened.

“We will make no decision on whether to investigate until we have had that conversation and found out the circumstances.”

A spokeswoman for the ambulance service confirmed that they had been called to Crowley Park in the town at just after 11am on Wednesday morning.

She said a ten-year-old boy appeared to have broken his wrist after a fall of less than two metres and he was conscious, breathing and alert when the crew arrived.

The young lad, who has not been named by emergency services, was taken by ambulance to Ipswich Hospital, although she was unable to confirm further details of the extent of his injuries.