Boy falls down hole at retail park

Sharon Talbot said she was walking across a grass verge near the Wacky Warehouse pub at Wrekin Retail Park in Telford with her son Nathan when he disappeared down the hole at around 12.30pm yesterday.

Staff at a nearby petrol station came out to give first aid to Nathan, who is a pupil at Hadley Learning Community, and he was treated for minor head injuries at Telford's Princess Royal Hospital.

Miss Talbot, 45, of Acacia Drive, Leegomery, said Nathan had been badly shaken by the incident.

"We had just come out of the Wacky Warehouse, and were walking across a grass verge near the car wash towards the shops," she said.

"I was holding Nathan's hand, the manhole wasn't covered up. My son didn't see it and I didn't see it.

"At least there was no water in it, then he would have been in trouble. The manhole was taller than he is so he fell right down it.

"It was dirty down there, but at least there was no water, then he would have been in real trouble.

"We have taken him to A & E, and they have said he will have a black mark on his head in the morning."

Vivienne Hoilett of AEG Management, which is responsible for Wrekin Retail Park, said she understood the incident took part inside the grounds of the Wacky Warehouse and involve a boy jumping off a climbing frame.

However, Miss Talbot said she and Nathan were not at the pub when the incident happened, and added that Nathan had not been on a climbing frame.