Banned by the goggle police!!

[mc_squared]

Banned by the goggle police: How 'elf and safety has stopped a man swimming in his local pool after 30 years

 

By Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 12:24 AM on 19th September 2008

 

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He's been swimming all around the world and never caused a ripple of concern.

But Roland Grimm hadn't reckoned on the goggle police at his local pool.

His special mask stops water going up his nose and has a single eye piece which does not press against his face.

 

 

High and dry: Roland Grimm says the ban on his special swimming mask by the leisure centre in Swiss Cottage is 'messing up' his life

 

But now, almost inevitably, it has fallen foul of the 'elf and safety enforcers.

Their ban on his mask has left Mr Grimm, who has been swimming at the leisure centre in Swiss Cottage, North London, for 30 years, high and dry.

He said: 'I've used these goggles in more than 100 different pools in countries including Germany, Spain, France and Portugal and no one else has ever complained or questioned why I am using them.

 

'I'm not allowed to wear them here because they cover my nose. They just don't seem to like the shape of the frame.

'I'm very upset because it seems mad. I like to swim every day and this is messing up my whole life.'

But pool bosses defended their decision to eject Mr Grimm - declaring his goggles were not shatterproof and breached industry guidelines.

 

Centre manager Gary Dark said: 'Non-shatterproof panels in enclosed environments can cause facial injury on impact with pool surfaces or other bathers and may pose a further hazard in relation to broken glass remaining on the pool floor.

'Full face masks that cover the nose can also cause breathing difficulties if water is swallowed and may restrict vision which can cause an accident.'

He said he wanted Mr Grimm, who is in his late 60s, to swim at the pool and would welcome the chance to speak to him to find a solution.

But Mr Grimm was not so easily mollified.

'After you've been swimming for 40 years all over the world you know what works best for you and what's safe,' he said.

'The last thing I would want to do is put myself or anyone else in danger.

'My lenses are plastic and are totally safe.'

[Black Rose]

Surely he can go to another swimming pool...