WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES Simon Oakley’s son Oliver, 12, suffered agonising burns during a school holiday to Spain in May – and his dad has now criticised the school’s response to the incident
A dad has been left furious after his son came home with a second-degree sunburn following a school trip.
Simon Oakley claims his 12-year-old son Oliver came home from Barcelona with agonising burns – and he has now slammed teachers for allowing his child to “fry in 30-degree heat without sun cream.” The Parklands High School pupil set off for Spain from Chorley, Lancashire, for a week-long holiday with classmates and spent nearly 24 hours travelling to the country via coach.
However, Simon claims Oliver suffered sunburn on the final day when the group visited a water park. Simon, a self-employed furniture maker, said he was “extremely upset” when he saw “how bad the burns were.”
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“I feel incredibly let down and disappointed with the school,” Simon said. “The kids spent the full day at a water park. We later learned from Oliver that he hadn’t had any sun cream on all day and wasn’t wearing a T-shirt or a hat.
“This left him fully exposed to the 30-degree sun and heat. We found out about his sunburn on Thursday evening while he was travelling back. He sent us a few messages saying his shoulders and back were really sore, and even did a short video so his mum and I could see how red and blistered his skin was.
“Over the next 48 hours, the blisters got much worse and new ones kept developing.”
Simon claims Oliver was given paracetamol, and heavy-duty plasters were applied to his burns, but by the time the youngster got home, he was in “agony”, so his parents rushed him to Preston Royal Hospital for treatment.
Nurses allegedly confirmed that the burns were of a second-degree nature and popped his blisters before peeling away the damaged skin, Simon said, as he added: “They headed home straight from the water park at around teatime. It was only on the bus journey back, which took over 24 hours, that the burns and blisters started to develop, and he was in agony for the majority of the journey back.
“He did let the teachers know towards the end of the journey, and they stuck some plasters on his blisters and gave him a paracetamol.” The family have since lodged a formal complaint with the school.
Simon said: “They gave him some paracetamol and then applied heavy-duty plasters to the blisters. The plasters had to be peeled off the next day at the hospital, which left Oliver screaming in agony and in tears on the floor. I submitted a formal complaint to the school.
“The headteacher phoned me back, but I was essentially told there was nothing more that could have been done for my son – even though seven teachers were on the trip.” Oliver went on the school trip from May 24 to May 30.
His dad says it has taken the child’s skin “about a month” to “get back to normal”, and he has some very faint scars from the burns. Simon added: “He’s okay now, but is a little wary about going out in the sun because of what happened.
“I just want other parents to know this can happen, and schools need to take sun safety seriously. No child should come home in that kind of pain after what’s meant to be a fun trip.”
The Mirror has contacted Parklands High School for comment, but received an automated response saying the school is now closed and “staff are unavailable at this time.” When contacted by Jam Press on multiple occasions, a receptionist said “no one” from the school was available to comment.