A PREGNANT mother is calling for safety improvements, after a family day out to a local leisure park led to an incident on a boating lake.

All four family members were left drenched through and scared after the pedalo they were using sunk.

Ashley Tindale, her husband Michael and daughters Sienna, aged four, and Amelie, 18 months, were on a day trip to Trethorne Leisure Farm, Launceston, from their home in Truro.

Ashley, who is expecting another child in February, said alarm bells sounded when they found water in the bottom of the pedalo, but the young man supervising explained that was normal and tried to scoop some of it out with a bucket.

Before they knew it, the pedalo sank entirely, and according to Ashley the young daughters were completely submerged, with Ashley herself struggling from slipping over on the bottom of the lake.

Ashley said that the far end of the lake had no quick access for staff to get anywhere near them.

Fortunately, Michael was able to pick up the children and hold them up until another family in a pedalo came over to the rescue.

She says she and Michael then had to swim across the lake to get out. The family were left soaked and their phones and car keys were water-damaged.

Ashley says that the young man, who was still managing the lake solo, appeared “clueless” about what to do and they asked to see a manager.

Eventually, an older member of staff appeared but also seemed unsure, and was unable to direct them to senior management.

Ashley said there was no attempt to close the lake to check the other boats and investigate what had happened, or ensure that it didn’t happen to anyone else.

Eventually, they were taken to the ticket office and left some contact details, expecting a call back that evening.

More than a day later, a senior member of staff spoke to them and was sympathetic to their situation. Although asked to write down an inventory of damaged items, Ashley says that their main concern was that this could happen to another family — perhaps with more tragic results.

The Tindales say they contacted Trethorne to ask for their risk assessment documents but they have heard nothing more.

Michael says that when they phoned Cornwall Council (who manage the park’s safety) they eventually spoke to someone in Consumer Services.

Mr Michael Davey, son of Trethorne’s owners and manager of the attraction said that Trethorne Leisure Farm had been contacted by the family and they had been asked to supply more information so a valuation of the family’s water damaged items could be drawn up.

He also said that the family’s interpretation of what happened differed from that of the young man who had been supervising the lake. Mr Davey said the lake’s water is only 3ft deep and the staff supervising said that when the pedalo sank, the Tindales just stood up and started walking back, so there seemed no need for him to jump in.

Mr Davey added that Trethorne has been operating for 34 years, with the boating lake as one of the main attractions for the past 15 years, and they had never had such an incident. He added that the bottom of the lake may only be slippery due to a rubber liner.

He said there is a decking area that extends into the lake and also sleepers around the side so if people needed to haul themselves out of the water they could.

Adding that every care was taken to hold boats close to the jetty and help them getting in and out at the start and end of their trip on the lake.

Mr Davey admitted that the Tindales said they had been left in soaking wet clothes, but they had never before needed to supply replacement clothes. However, he had now instructed staff, in case of a future incident, to offer the washing and drying facilities at the adjoining golf club.

He said that he would be contacting Ashley and Michael Tindale to discuss their concerns — though at the time of going to press the Tindales said they had so far received no contact from Trethorne.

A spokesperson for Cornwall Council said that the right department at the council to deal with cases such as the Tindales’ was Business Compliance. The spokesperson added: “Cornwall Council’s Business Compliance team has been made aware of an alleged incident at?Trethorne?Leisure Park.??

“The team are in contact with Mr and Mrs Tindale and will be reviewing this matter.”