A devastated father of a 8 year old boy, who died after suffering from injury has called for more safety, supervision and training at a laser tag arena following an inquest into their son's death. Aryan Patel's father Rajendra issued a family statement after a jury ruled his son died as a result of an accident at the city venue.
Aryan, who was small for his age, died in hospital just an hour after suffering a liver injury after colliding with a 6ft teen at the venue. The hearing was told that the youngster was playing third round of an Ultimate Rapid Fire during a mixed age session, when he was knocked down.
The inquest at the Town Hall heard that there were only two staff in the building, allegedly neither of whom had first-aid training. The incident also occurred in a blind spot not covered by cctv.
However the coroner Lydia Brown directed the jury to return a conclusion of accidental death as an investigation by the city council and the police found no health and safety issues that warranted action.
Following the two-day hearing, Aryan's father, Rajendra, who had gone to his son's aid during the incident reportedly said: "We are bitterly disappointed that Megazone and the Leicester City Council have not looked at implementing changes into how players are more suitably grouped."
He said: "We would have hoped that Megazone would have taken this unfortunate incident to ensure that no other family will have to go through the pain and anguish that we are going through now and in years to come."
Mr Patel, 45, an IT manager, said "We have lost a loved one who can never be replaced and will never be forgotten."
Magazone Leicester owner Peter Davies reportedly said: "We deeply sympathise with the family of Aryan Patel.
"But the investigation carried out by the council said that we were operating safely and can carry on in the way we were."
He denied the lack of training, all staff are now first aid trained.
