UK: Single father, 2 sons turned away from swimming pool

Submitted by AngryMan on Wed, 2009-01-07 17:37

Story here. Excerpt:

"A single father was left stunned after he was turned away from a swimming pool when staff told him he could not provide proper supervision for his two sons.

Phillip Smith and sons Jake, aged five, and Aiden, three, were not allowed to enjoy a swim at the leisure centre because under-eights must be accompanied on a one-to-one basis by adults.
...
Mr Smith, 37, from Killamarsh in Sheffield, who is separated from his sons' mother, accused the leisure centre of 'discriminating against single parents'.

He said: 'As a fireman, I'm highly trained and expected to be able to provide first aid at emergencies.

'To say I cannot cope with looking after my two sons at a swimming pool is just mad.'"

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Comments

While the rules sound stupid, this doesn't appear to be an MRA issue. It looks like they would have turned away a mother in the exact same situation as well.

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Submitted by BinaryShadow on Thu, 2009-01-08 15:11

That's what I was about to say. As long as they would treat a mother the same way, there is no issue. Though, I must say, that rule is rather idiotic and pointless. I mean, don't they have a lifeguard at the pool as well?

Evan AKA X-TRNL
Real Men Don't Take Abuse!

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Submitted by xtrnl on Fri, 2009-01-09 04:34