Holiday park boss where five-year-old boy drowned defends no-lifeguard policy

dailyrecord.co.uk:

The boss of a holiday park where a five-year-old boy tragically drowned has defended the decision not to have a lifeguard on duty at the pool, an inquest heard.Robin Van Caliskan sadly passed away after getting into difficulty in the swimming pool at Atlantic Reach's Newquay resort.

The horrific incident happened just hours after his family had pitched up their tent at White Cross, just outside the Cornwall town.At an inquest into his death, Henry Vernon, the managing director of Atlantic Reach, said that the holiday park's own health and safety risk assessment had led them to decide that no lifeguards were required.Vernon told the hearing, held in Truro, that the number of people using the swimming pool at any one time was capped at 54 all year round.

At the time of the incident 46 had been in the indoor pool including the Caliskan family, Cornwall Live reports.Mr Vernon said: "Lifeguards are not provided on normal days and we control the number of people allowed in the pool.

We would only provide lifeguards on large inflatable sessions but these are very infrequent."On the first day of a two-day inquest into his death, Robin's devastated parents Cemal and Ferzane Caliskan, who live in Plymouth, told how they had booked a three-night stay at the holiday park last summer and after arriving on site and putting up their tent, the family, who live in Plymouth, decided to book a swimming session in the indoor pool.The couple said they chose the resort which boasts 185 camping pitches and 230 holiday homes, because of the impression they had that lifeguards would be present.