UK Bans Parents from Playgrounds

"Only council-vetted "play rangers" are now allowed to monitor youngsters in two adventure areas in Watford while parents must watch from outside a perimeter fence.

The Watford Borough Council policy has been attacked as insulting and a disgrace by furious relatives who say they are being labeled as potential pedophiles.

It will further fuel concerns over a growing nanny state amid the deepening row over the Government's new national anti-pedophile database.

That will see at least 11 million adults have to be vetted to work with children or vulnerable adults, including parents who give officials lifts to and from social or sports clubs.

Councillors in Watford claim they are only following Government guidelines and cannot allow adults to walk around playgrounds "unchecked". But Osfted dismissed the ban while parents branded it "a joke".

Play rangers currently patrol both parks – which are specifically for children aged five to 15 – and are fully qualified and have been cleared by the Criminal Records Bureau.

Parents already have to 'register' their child on arrival at the free playgrounds so staff have their contact details in the event of an accident.

But now only those who have been CRB vetted by the council can enter the sites, which are surrounded by six foot high steel and wooden fences.

Mother-of-five Marcella Bergin, 35, has been visiting with her three eldest children, Christy, 15, Seamus, 12, and Chloe, 11, for many years without any problems.

She said: "It's like they are branding all parents potential paedophiles which is disgraceful – 99 per cent of people are great parents and certainly not child abusers.

"They are encouraging a climate where parents and children are rendered suspicious without any proof of wrong doing or guilt," she said.

"Caring parents should not be viewed as a threat and if you are a bona fide parent or carer you are in a better position to look after your children than council staff."

A council notice to parents explains that: "Safeguarding the children and young people who use the site is one of our top priorities.

The Daily Telegraph disclosed on Tuesday how employers will come under pressure to register staff with the Government's anti-pedophile database even if they have little contact with children.

But a spokeswoman for Ofsted said: "Ofsted would never seek to prevent parents and carers having access to their own children."

Americans must know that the more we become like Great Britain, the less free we will be. The UK is a Police State, a Nanny State and their socialist health care system promotes Heroin, which comes from Afghanistan by the way (check my article and CNN vid, Giving Heroin Addicts Heroin for proof).