Summer camp teacher claiming £300k in damages after group of kids knock her down in famous playground game
17 February 2025, 10:43
A summer camp teacher is claiming £300,000 in damages after she was knocked down by a group of 100 kids playing a game of British bulldog.
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Elizabeth Parkin, 45, says she suffered a serious leg injury that left her with a limp and potentially needing a leg replacement following the incident.
The pastoral lead at a Bournemouth secondary school was out of work for months as a result, the High Court heard.
British Bulldog is a playground game where kids try to stop each other running from one area to another.
Many schools have banned the violent game as it can cause injuries.
Ms Parkin said she was on a hockey pitch with her back turned when 100 amped up kids charged at a summer camp she was working at in August 2023, The Sun reports.
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The camp was run out of Bradfield College, a private boarding and day school for 13-to-18-year-olds in Reading.Ms Parkin accused hockey pitch owners Euro Sports Camps of a health and safety failure.
Now, she is suing CMT Learning, which operates Euro Sports Camps.
She also accused a colleague of organising the game 'without risk assessment'. According to her claim: “A child or children collided into the Claimant, knocking her to the ground, where she sustained injuries.”
Ms Parkin was awarded supporting staff member of the year at the Bournemouth Daily Echo School Awards in 2022.
She said she was out of work until November 2023 and still has pain in her left knee and leg due to the incident.
In 2013, the parents of a schoolgirl who died playing British bulldog called for the game to be banned from playgrounds.
Freya James, who was eight-year-old when she died, suffered a fatal stomach injury while playing the game.
Many schools have since banned the game, expressing concerns that children had been playing it too roughly.
