Injured Troops Abused at Swimming Pool

londonpride · Post by **londonpride** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 7:20 am

Whether you agree with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan surely the troops who have been injured there shouldn't be treated this way.

[Soldiers who suffered appalling injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan were verbally abused as they swam in a public swimming pool.

During a weekly rehabilitation class at a council leisure centre, 15 servicemen â€“ including several who have lost limbs or suffered severe burns â€“ were heckled and jeered by members of the public.

One woman was so incensed that the troops were using the pool at Leatherhead Leisure Centre in Surrey that she told them they did not deserve to be there.

She became increasingly abusive, screaming that it was wrong for staff to rope off a lane exclusively for the injured personnel from the nearby Headley Court rehabilitation centre.

The swimmer, thought to be in her 30s, is understood to have said: "I pay to come here and swim â€“ you lot don't."

The abuse was witnessed by 79-year-old Korean War veteran Charles Murrin, who said yesterday: I could not believe what she was saying.

The lane was roped off, which they do every week. It wasn't as if the pool was completely closed. Her group had the rest of the pool to swim in. ]

Didn't this particular woman realised that she may have paid but those young men paid with more than money.

Iapologise if this has been posted before but I haven't quite got my bearings on the site yet.

Peg · Post by **Peg** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 7:39 am

They should've drowned her. :-5

Post by **spot** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 8:21 am

That's from today's This Is London? I don't think it's been widely reported elsewhere.

It's an outrageous event. I hope the two people concerned are both asked in public to justify their behaviour. What they did is appalling and they should be utterly ashamed of themselves if the report's accurate.

Linda Sinclair, of Leatherhead, also witnessed the abuse. She said:"It was a few people that were complaining and it made me cross. I really felt for those soldiers."

The incident, which took place on November 13, came as a national appeal was launched to raise Â£5million to build a new rehabilitation pool and gym at Headley Court. The centre treats 180 injured servicemen who have to make a half-hour trip to Leatherhead to use the pool.

Last night, Conservative MP Patrick Mercer, a former infantry commander, told of his dismay at the incident. He said: "It may well be that these people had paid for the use of the pool, but our soldiers have paid so much more for their country." A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: "We are disappointed that a small number of people objected to the closure of swimming lanes so that patients of Headley Court could use them." A spokesman for Mole Valley District Council, which owns the leisure centre, said: "There appears to have been a rare incident where two members of the public queried the provision of lanes of the swimming pool for Headley Court. While we wouldn't condone what happened, staff did their best to accommodate all concerned and acted professionally in dealing with the situation."

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/arti ... article.do

el guapo · Post by **el guapo** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 8:24 am

Peg;724575 wrote: They should've drowned her. :-5

then revived her and drownd her again

freetobeme · Post by **freetobeme** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 12:11 pm

Complete idiots, they must be suffering from a bad case of BDS (Bush Derangement Syndrome )

find me here

Post by **spot** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 12:14 pm

freetobeme;724768 wrote: Complete idiots, they must be suffering from a bad case of BDS (Bush Derangement Syndrome )In Leatherhead? They're heartless Conservatives, you can't live in Surrey unless you're a Conservative.

freetobeme · Post by **freetobeme** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 6:24 am

spot;724773 wrote: In Leatherhead? They're heartless Conservatives, you can't live in Surrey unless you're a Conservative.

??? conservatives can suffer from BDS too, but I bet Letherdale isn't all conservative

-

find me here

Post by **spot** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 7:35 am

freetobeme;725183 wrote: ??? conservatives can suffer from BDS too, but I bet Letherdale isn't all conservative

-There's eleven constituencies in Surrey:Epsom and Ewell

Esher and Walton

Guildford

Mole Valley

Reigate

Runnymede and Weybridge

Spelthorne

Surrey East

Surrey Heath

Surrey South West

Woking

and only one of those didn't return a Conservative Member of Parliament at the last general election, and it sure as hell wasn't the Mole Valley! The inhabitants of Guildford, bless their little cotton socks, elected the Liberal candidate in a moment of whimsy.

I concede that you don't have to vote Conservative to actually live there, residents do after all need cleaning staff, but you definitely do to be allowed to use the local swimming pools - Labour voters would be even more abused than servicemen in rehabilitation classes. Half the inhabitants of Leatherhead are refugees from the collapse of apartheid in South Africa, where do you think the town got its name from.

Post by **spot** » Thu Sep 04, 2008 1:53 am

What on earth is it about these godless freaks in Surrey?A soldier home on leave after being injured in Afghanistan was refused a room by a hotel when he showed his military ID card at reception.

Corporal Tomos Stringer, 23, from Gwynedd, was visiting a wounded colleague in Surrey when he was turned away from the Metro Hotel in Woking. He spent the night in his car after being told it was management policy not to accept military personnel.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/7596798.stm

The place should be closed down forthwith. The owners should be thrown out of the country. The MP for Woking should resign. The hotel manager should fall on his sword. Bloody Surrey of all places, they keep on doing this sort of thing.

If anyone wants to dig a bit, the hotel's owned by

American Amusements Limited

The Big Apple

Crown Square

Woking

Surrey

GU21 1HR

Phone: 01483 727100

They don't sound American, they sound rather more South African actually. Or, I suppose, Dutch.

Oh - they refused to allow me to inspect their Shareholder Register at their Registered Office as well despite "Any person may require a copy of a company’s register of members, or of any part of it, on payment of such fee as may be prescribed". They sound as though they're pulling up the drawbridge and fending off a siege.

Post by **spot** » Thu Sep 04, 2008 5:35 am

fuzzy butt;972101 wrote: spot have you obtained the magistrates copy yet of the other matter in that other thread?? Just wondering actually. oH the reason I ask is that i have a soli and a police prosicutor interested . thanksThe back-and-forth of letters finished last week with one from the Legal Clerk saying the District Judge had declared I had no statutory authority to see what he'd written, so I'm at a standstill. Apparently I can only get it if I'm involved in legal proceedings with the party in question and even then it's only my representative at law who can apply.

Post by **spot** » Thu Sep 04, 2008 3:15 pm

There's a follow-up article:The matter had been raised by Plaid Cymru MP Mr Williams, who received a letter back from the hotel complex manager last week saying it regretted the way the matter was dealt with.

A manager in the letter said the hotel had in recent months "experienced some rather serious incidents" resulting from the stay of personnel from a local barracks and staff had been requested to be "cautious" in taking future bookings from the armed forces. Managers were asked to assess cases.

"In almost every case the booking is accepted. This process does not appear to have happened in this case, for which I sincerely apologise. We also fully recognise and appreciate the tremendous courage and sacrifices made by member of our armed services".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/7598523.stm

As far as the last paragraph goes: twaddle. That's meaningless PR-speak from someone trying to minimize the damage.

Post by **spot** » Thu Sep 04, 2008 10:11 pm

The confusion's my fault, it's two incidents - check the dates of the posts. I put them in the same thread because they both happened in the same small part of England.

Post by **spot** » Sun Sep 07, 2008 2:21 am

You have to hand it to the English, we've a great sense of humour. Hotel review sites are slowly accumulating entries like this one to defuse the insult:Do not stay at this Hotel. The Lobby is crawling with prostitutes - male and female. It is filthy - I found cockroaches in my cereal. The General Manager is an abusive alcoholic and a cross-dresser. However if you do stay make sure you are in military uniform as it is free for all military personnel.

http://www.travbuddy.com/Metro-Hotel-Woking-v275245