AN ALERT dad saved his child from potentially horrific injuries after spotting “hundreds of shards of broken glass” had become stuck to a slide in the Heath playground.
The youngster was about to fling himself down the slide at around 8am on Sunday, when his dad saw there was broken, clear glass stuck all the way down it, and grabbed his young son just in the nick of time.
Litter-picker Beth Svarovska said the shards were bonded to the slide with whatever sticky drink the glass had contained as it was smashed.
More broken glass was discovered all over the children’s roundabout, she added, as well as shards of brown and green glass blending in with the playground’s black matting.
The best festive winter walks to enjoy in the South Downs National Park
Dreaming of a green Christmas as Petersfield group offers discounted fruit trees
VIDEO: Merry motorcade as thousands around East Hants and Sussex cheer on tractor run
Fury in Froxfield as East Hampshire landlord tells Labour MPs: "You're barred"But Beth, a local resident and trustee of Petersfield Society, said the glass on the slide in particular had sent “chills through my spine”.
She continued: “The glass was practically invisible – it was clear and it blended in with the silver metal, it just looked like water. It was like a stealth cheese-grater – a horrible accident waiting to happen.”
A Petersfield Town Council groundsman soon arrived and had to use plenty of elbow grease to scrape the glass off the slide before scrubbing it down with detergent.
Volunteers helped the council worker painstakingly clear the rest of the playground, while a Heath Road resident cleared more broken glass found near the town centre.
Beth is now warning people to be careful with their children and dogs, as well as urging those “who have family members who go out late at night in Petersfield, to talk to them about what had happened and make clear the boundaries of high jinks and criminality”.
She also thanked the town council’s “very professional and thorough” grounds staff, and “whoever cleared up a lot of other broken glass on Heath Road that morning”.
“I hope the police recognise the seriousness of this,” Beth added.
“The newly-elected Police and Crime Commissioner Donna Jones said in her election address that she wants to see more police presence in rural communities.
“This is an opportunity to draw her attention to the urgent and overdue need for responsive night-time policing in Petersfield.”