Scottish Borders Council was recently ordered to pay £2,000 compensation plus costs to a schoolgirl who sustained injuries in the playground of Burgh Primary School.

Abigail Wardle was swinging from rafters in a playground shelter when she fell, hurt her wrist and sustained injury. 

Initially the case against the Council was dismissed however, on appeal a Sheriff found the Council to be liable for the accident and ordered compensation to be paid.

The Sheriff stated that he would have thought it would be obvious that the rafters would be attractive to children for climbing purposes.

It was clear that the school had known pupils were using the rafters to swing on because they had caught Abigail swinging from the rafters previously. Abigail had been warned before the accident not to swing on the rafters and the Sheriff on appeal reduced her compensation by 50% to take into account that she had ignored this warning.

Following the accident, the school placed boarding across the rafters, which prevented  pupils swinging from them. The Sheriff noted that had the school placed boards over the rafters straight away when they realised that pupils were swinging from the rafters the accident would not have occurred.