Plea to swimmers after poo and vomiting in pool

A sports centre has urged anyone "experiencing sickness" to stay away from their swimming pool after repeated incidents of people vomiting in the water.

The Olympic-sized pool at Basildon Sporting Village closed twice in April due to vomiting, and again on the 1 May after a "diarrhoea incident" in the water.

On Thursday afternoon, staff at the Essex centre said a child was sick in the main pool and it was subsequently closed off for 42 hours.

Tom Fletcher, from operator Everyone Active, said: "We would kindly urge anyone experiencing symptoms of sickness to please avoid using the pool until they have fully recovered."

He explained that the pool had to be closed for "full filtration, backwashing, chemical treatment and water-quality testing".

Each of the four closures, over the last six weeks, impacted lessons, school bookings and public sessions.

"We recognise that sickness incidents in public pools are an unfortunate reality, and we are sympathetic to those involved," said Fletcher, who is the area contract manager for the company.

"However, the impact on our facility, our staff and the hundreds of swimmers who rely on us is substantial."

Staff said they offered refunds and rescheduled cancelled sessions, alerting customers via phone, email or social media.

Andy Barnes, leader of the Conservative group at Basildon Council, was unsure why the pattern had emerged.

"Children get ill, we know that... many parents will have experienced situations like that in the past, but it does seem to be happening remarkably frequently," said Barnes.

"It's not pleasant, is it?"

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