Chester trampoline park victim 'disappointed' ex-directors not jailed

David Elliott Shuttleworth and Matthew Melling, both 34, were the directors of Flip Out Chester, based at Chester Gates Business Park and which opened on December 11, 2016.

But from day two of the trampoline park being open, hundreds of adults and children were injured at the Tower Jump obstacle, which saw customers leaping from a maximum height of 5.3 metres (17.3 feet) into a foam and mattress pit measuring up to 1.7 metres deep, regularly unsupervised.

The Tower Jump was responsible for 270 reported injuries to members of the public within two months of it opening.

The former directors have been told to pay a total of more than £70,000 and were each ordered to carry out 250 hours unpaid work as part of a 12-month community order, following sentencing at Chester Crown Court on Tuesday, February 27.

Louise Wright, 27, was one of 11 victims who broke her back on the Tower Jump in 2017. Aged 20 at the time, she had gone to Flip Out to celebrate a friend's birthday on January 27 and had only been there for five minutes when she leapt from the top window panel at the Tower Jump and injured herself in the foam pit below.

Louise, from Formby, said she was "so badly winded" in the immediate aftermath she could not speak and staff refused to help her get an ambulance. She added when the ambulance crew did arrive, the paramedic complained to the general manager about how often they had been called to Flip Out.

'Awful lot of pain'

It was 11 months before Louise was ultimately diagnosed, on a GP's advice, with a broken back after getting an x-ray. She now occasionally requires a walking stick, works from home as she cannot sit in an office for prolonged periods of time, and still has bouts of pain leaving her feeling physically sick.

She added: "I rely heavily on my boyfriend to do things. I don't go in the office, or if I do I find that I'm in an awful lot of pain, so I find it really hard to concentrate.

"I'm on medication and quite strong painkillers, so I get tired very easily and I can get quite irritable.

"My mental health is pretty low...I was in such a good point of my life and it's just one decision to jump off and that you think is meant to be safe - you see children jumping off - and that's it."

Matthew Melling and David Elliot Shuttleworth were the directors of Flip Out Chester. (Peter Byrne/PA)

Louise added she would "never have gone" if she had known that by that point, about 200 people had been injured at the Tower Jump, several with broken backs.

Paralegal Louise added she believed the defendants "got off lightly" and they were only sorry for themselves at the thought they could have gone to prison.

'Couldn't breathe'

One of the other victim statements from the sentencing was from a woman The Standard reported on in early 2017 when she was taking legal action against Flip Out, after she too fractured her spine.

Sarah McManus, than aged 29, said she followed the instructions and landed in the seated position, but when she hit the foam, she head a 'crack' in her back.

She said in our story from 2017: "I was barely able to breathe and couldn’t shout for help so I had to throw some of the foam sponges in the air to get attention.

“I was eventually fitted with a back brace that I wear daily and only remove it to shower and sleep.”

Liza Jones, then aged 26 and from Wrexham, said the Tower Jump injury was "really scary, the most pain I've ever suffered in my life".

Part of the 'safety video' demonstrating how people should position themselves when leaping from the Tower Jump.

The nurse needed metal plates and screws in her spine and it was feared she could have been paralysed and needing a wheelchair.

George Magraw, then a 21-year-old geophysics student, fractured his back in multiple places following the jump.

'Distressing experience'

He said the incident was "life changing" and requires further back surgery, with his social activities "curtailed".

Isabella Warrington was 11 at the time she suffered a 'knee-to-face' injury on the Tower Jump.

She said she was unable to move following the injury and had "severe back pain". Although she has made a full recovery, it was a "distressing experience" for her and her parents who saw her suffer a nosebleed, and she suffered blood in the urine. Her mother also recalled seeing her shirt "covered in blood".

Other victims say they suffer anxiety, depression, PTSD and now have a fear of heights since they were injured.

Shuttleworth, of Barlaston, Stoke-on-Trent and Melling, of Spinningfields, Manchester, each pleaded guilty at Chester Crown Court in November 2023 to an offence contrary to Sections 3 and 37 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, for failing to prevent exposure to risk.