Cockroaches at Tooting teaching pool...Am I over-reacting? Post Reply

[lrsmum]

My toddler and I went to our weekly swimming class today at Tooting Leisure Centre and whilst getting ready another mum came running through the changing rooms with a live cockroach she'd caught by the side of the pool.
Naturally I was reluctant to then get into the pool (especially as my LO is still at the stage of swallowing quite a bit of water) so decided not to swim and to complain to the centre management.
To my absolute horror, the duty manager informed me they are aware of the problem and pest control are coming in periodically to attempt to treat the promblem but thus far it hasn't fully worked. He then proceeded to tell me that they are finding "loads" of them in the mornings and are cleaning the poolside before opening and "not to worry about the pool because the chemicals in the pool kill everything"
I guess he's is correct about the pool water, as I'm pretty sure they have to test it every few hours, but how confident can I be about poolside and changing room cleanliness?
I spoke to other mums and they were still taking their LOs in, am I over-reacting?

[Raspberry-Sorbet]

If it were me, I would contact Wandsworth council and I think I would have abandoned the swimming too. Cockroaches are a pest and do carry and spread bacteria including salmonella. I don't know if the pool chemicals would be enough to kill that or not. I would think the changing rooms would be a potential risk (toddlers putting their hands on the floor) unless they had been properly disinfected and that only works until the next one scuttles across the floor.

My concern would be to know if they are using the right treatment. For instance, hand gel - although a wonderful invention does not get rid of e-coli bacteria so at a farm they say you must use soap and running water to clean hands as the gel is not enough. In the case of the pool, their chlorine solution may not be effective enough.

[Wimbledon]

I've had a word with the management about this problem and had the same response. As I have prepaid for a whole term of lessons I don't want to suddenly stop going, however I have been taking my toddler into the changing room and the pool area in her buggy as I don't want her crawling around on the floor! I have also been telling my older children when they are not having a lesson, to wear his shoes into the swimming pool area despite the signs telling us not to (those blue shoe covers are too big for their feet).

Thanks for posting this comment as it has reminded me that every week I've been saying I would contact the council directly but of course its something that always slips my mind when I get home!!!!

[lrsmum]

Thank you for your responses!
I've just spoken to Wandsworth Environmental Health and they are going to pay them a visit then contact me with the outcome, so I'll post back then.

[Wimbledon]

I was just at the council and mentioned this issue to them also. They said they had someone on site as we spoke (I guess they were responding to Irsmum) - so at least they are onto the case quickly!!!

Lets hope they sort this one out asap.

[almylee]

It's not just at Tooting, I saw them at Putney yesterday too!!!

[jafina]

Just like to point out that the reason you are not meant to take buggies and outdoor shoes pool-side is to avoid bringing in nasties from outside. So you might be protecting your own children but you are exposing other people to germs you have dragged in with you!

[momtoamonkey]

We were only there last week...thanks for posting! Think we'll be avoiding until the council has looked into the situation.

Ball pit; My daughter was having a play in the ball pit at Tooting last week after her swim and I ended up going in with her as she's only little and needed some help getting around. It was very wet in the middle area of the ball pit, from where you come down the slide to the exit! I have no idea what it was from (although a little girl had an accident in there when we were there), this was a fair amount of liquid. We left pretty swiftly and reported the incident to staff but it did make me wonder how clean the ball pit can be!

[Soon-to-be-a-SMOG]

We had the same (cockroaches) at the Latchemere recently. And a mouse in the ball pit at the Wandle Leisure Centre duringa kids birthday party. We could well be just unlucky, but it's put me off both places !!

[mitch74]

Hi , Would just like to say that although not a nice thing to see, you will find that most leisure centres have a problem with cockroaches and generally not an easy thing for them to get rid of, they work tirelessly to get rid of the problem.
I would be very surprised if you can find a centre that does not have this problem because of the environment they live in....