Latest news with #EnidHollingworth
ITV News
a day ago
- Health
- ITV News
Woman one of three suing health club after chlorine leak at swimming pool in Derbyshire
A 71-year-old woman is one of three people suing a health club for injuries after being exposed to excess levels of chlorine while swimming. Enid Hollingworth has not stepped into a pool since January, when a chemical leak at Clifford Health Club and Spa in Long Eaton, Derbyshire, left her struggling to breathe. 27 people were exposed to high levels of chlorine in the spa area of the building. Ms Hollingworth was one of four people who ended up in hospital. She said: "I was doing breaststroke and I was swimming underwater. So when I came up to take a breath, I just felt this toxic gas hit me on the side of my face and straight away, I couldn't breathe. "My lungs were burning, so I was coughing and choking. I managed to, I don't know how... I was begging and pleading for somebody to help me to make it to the bottom of the steps to get out of the pool." Ms Hollingworth still struggles to breathe and has been left with problems to her left eye. She said: "It took four months for the cough to go away completely and now I've been left with problems with my left eyelid, it's drooping. "When I wake up in the morning, it's barely open when my eye is tired. So now, I've got to have some surgery. "I've been referred to the ocular surgeons to have the eyelid lifted - all because I thought I was doing something to keep me healthy." Ms Hollingworth said she used to enjoy swimming: "I do have back problems. I've got scoliosis and osteoarthritis and that really eased some of the back pain for me, so it was really important. "I used to do it once a week, but I did 50 lengths of the pool, swimming really quite fast for my age and I enjoyed it. It was exercise that I felt was doing me a lot of good." Since the incident, Ms Hollingworth does not feel safe enough to enter a pool: "It's left me with far more back ache because I'm not able to loosen up my back by swimming. "It's left me feeling quite anxious about it, I would like to get back to the pool but I just don't feel that I can." Ahmed Jamad, from Express Solicitors, who represents the three chlorine leak victims, said: "We're taking legal action for personal injury. "The law around that is that they breached common law, duty of care and also a statutory duty of care under section two of the Occupiers Liability Act. "It basically imposes a duty on landowners and owners of the premises to ensure that any visitors on their lands or on their premises are kept reasonably safe, in the environment and not exposed to any sort of danger or hazards." Clifford Health Club and Spa said last month human error was to blame for the leak - and internal investigations are ongoing. Erewash Borough Council is continuing its own investigation.
BBC News
3 days ago
- Health
- BBC News
Woman takes legal action for chlorine exposure at spa
A woman has said she is taking legal action after being exposed to excess levels of chlorine while swimming at a pool in Derbyshire. Enid Hollingworth, 71, is one of four people taken to hospital after a chemical leak at Clifford's Gym and Spa in Regent Street, Long Eaton, on 7 Hollingworth said she was awaiting surgery on her eye as a consequence of the exposure and added "lessons need to be learned".The owner of the gym, Mark Clifford said internal investigations remained ongoing and it was "not therefore appropriate to provide any further comment". "I think it's important for everybody to feel safe when they go for a swim, when they think they are doing something healthy."People are dealing with very dangerous chemicals, chlorine is a very dangerous chemical, and I think it needs to be thoroughly looked into."It just can't be allowed to happen again to anyone else," Mrs Hollingworth said. Clifford Health Club and Spa said the leak in January happened after staff had failed to follow correct said there had been a build-up of dry chlorine in the pipework of a hydrotherapy pool which was undergoing Hollingworth is one of three people who are now seeking compensation. 'Held accountable' Ahmed Jarad, associate solicitor at Express Solicitors, said: "We were approached by three clients to take legal action under common law negligence and breach of section two of the Occupiers Liability Act 1957."Ultimately it's to make sure that this doesn't happen again to anyone else to make sure that the health club are held accountable."People expect to go to their local health club to better their health, not damage it, and I think unfortunately on this occasion that wasn't the case."Mrs Hollingworth, said she was struggling to get back into a swimming pool after the chlorine exposure left her with a four-month-long cough and problems with her left eye."I don't know how I'm going to react when I smell the chlorine, so I really don't have the confidence to go back to swimming and that was a big part of my fitness regime."I suffer from back pain and I have osteoarthritis arthritis and the swimming was really good but I still feel that I haven't got the courage to go back."Erewash Borough Council said its investigation into the leak was continuing.
BBC News
06-03-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Chlorine leak gym receives fire safety enforcement notice
A fire safety enforcement notice has been served on a spa and health club just weeks after customers attended hospital following a chemical Fire and Rescue Service (DFRS) visited Clifford Health Club and Spa in Regent Street, Long Eaton, in January 2025. The fire service issued an enforcement notice on 3 February, with concerns including risk assessment, emergency routes, exits and training. Erewash Borough Council has told the BBC an investigation after the chemical leak at the club on 7 January is ongoing. The statutory notices are issued by fire and rescue authorities when they find a serious risk that is not being say what improvements are needed and by could be fined or go to prison if they do not follow fire safety penalties can be up to £5, penalties can have unlimited fines and prison sentences of up to two enforcement notice has been published on the National Fire Chiefs Council's Enforcement relates to the following sections of The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005:Duty to take general fire precautionsRisk assessmentPrinciples of prevention to be appliedEmergency routes and exitsProcedures for serious and imminent danger and for danger areasSafety assistanceProvision of information to employeesTrainingIn response to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request by the BBC, DFRS has confirmed it holds three fire safety letters between it and Clifford's health Club and it has refused to release the correspondence, claiming it contains personal data, would adversely affect public safety and disclosure would "harm the confidentiality of commercial or industrial information".The BBC has appealed against the refusal. Enid Hollingworth, 71, from Chilwell, Nottinghamshire, was one of those taken to hospital after January's chemical told the BBC she feared for her life after being exposed to a leak of chlorine while using the swimming pool and other women, who also attended hospital, spoke to the BBC and criticised the staff on how they dealt with the incident. A spokesperson for DFRS said: "Following an incident or false alarm at any premises regulated under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, our protection department will engage with the responsible person."This can include carrying out a fire safety audit to ensure compliance with legislation."DFRS would not confirm whether the audit was a result of January's chemical BBC has contacted Clifford Health Club and Spa for comment.
