A NORTH-EAST council has alerted its counterparts nationwide after a survey in its borough discovered that up to a third of private children's play areas in pubs and hotels were not up to standard.

Gateshead Borough Council found that in some cases there were serious accidents waiting to happen.

The authority decided to carry out the survey following an accident in which a seven-year-old child broke an arm in a hotel's play area.

Among 24 private businesses with play areas in the borough, more than 200 separate pieces of apparatus were found to contain some sort of risk, with seven of the play areas classified as high risk.

Three prohibition notices were served to prevent the play areas from being used due to a risk of potentially serious personal injury.

Several improvement notices were also served, requiring repairs and improvements to be carried out, before the play areas could be used again.

In one case, the metal hangers to a swing were three-quarters worn through, while in another a tree play unit was not secured to the ground, making it unstable. Both have been taken down and are no longer in use.

The authority has written with its findings to all other councils in the country, so that they can decide whether to carry out similar surveys in their own areas.

Cabinet member for community safety, Councillor Malcolm Graham, said: "Although the results seem shocking, I think the important thing is that we have worked with local businesses to make sure that they are not falling foul of the law.

"By advising businesses what they needed to do in order to make their play areas safe, we have hopefully reduced the risk of further unnecessary accidents to children."