A Forfar boy shattered his ankle and shinbone after shooting down a flume ride with not enough water, a court heard.
The boy, who was 12 at the time, was the first rider of the session on the Wipeout waterslide at Beach Leisure Centre on Aberdeen Beach Promenade on August 11 2011.
Issues with the ride’s water supply meant there was insufficient water in the trough at the bottom of the slide to slow him down.
The boy collided with the end of the trough, leading to two fractures that required his leg to be in plaster for almost seven weeks and in a moon boot for a further fortnight.
He has since made a full recovery. Charitable trust Sport Aberdeen was fined £8,000 at Aberdeen Sheriff Court on Thursday after admitting a breach of the Health and Safety at Work Act.
The trust, which manages sports and leisure facilities and services on behalf of Aberdeen City Council, has subsequently changed its procedures.
It now requires flumes to run for at least 30 minutes before riders are allowed on. The fine comes less than a week after an Inverkeithing woman broke her foot riding a flume at the new Olympia swimming pool in Dundee.
Michelle Seath, 26, broke the fifth metatarsal bone in her left foot after being thrown from side to side down the flume.
The Aberdeen Sheriff Court fine follows an investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) that found the Wipeout slide did not have procedures for checking and verifying water levels in the flume.
The court heard the Wipeout flume had the steepest descent and was the narrowest of three flume tube slides at the centre.
Riders slide straight down a steep slope which launches the rider into an exit flume and then into the collection trough a long canal of water that should slow the rider down gradually.
On the day of the incident, the pool plant operator was late in starting the flumes as she was dealing with other matters.
She closed the water flow valve on the Wipeout flume, rather than opening it as she intended.
Soon afterwards she got a call from the lifeguard stationed at the bottom of the waterslides to say no water had come through the Wipeout slide.
The operator went to investigate, found the valve was closed and then opened it.
As water had now begun to flow at the top, the lifeguards above were unaware of the lack of water at the bottom and allowed the Angus boy to ride down the flume.
The lifeguard at the bottom started to phone colleagues at the top to warn them not to send anyone down as there was insufficient water in the collection trough when he heard the boy hit the trough.
The boy’s parents were called over and he was taken to hospital with a fractured ankle and shinbone.
Following the case, HSE inspector John Radcliffe, said: “Riding on any water slide is not risk-free, as the body can be turned around or over at high speed by the water flow as part of the thrill of the ride but this type of incident fell well outside the acceptable risk that customers accept by using such equipment.
“The injury sustained by the child, whilst serious enough, could have been much worse as an impact like that runs the risk of serious spinal injuries.
“The public rightly expect to be able to visit such facilities without being exposed to such a serious risk of injury. The incident was entirely foreseeable and preventable had proper, competent control been exercised by Sport Aberdeen.”