Father concerned at safety of medals handed out to children

MEDALS handed out to children to mark the Olympic Games are sharp enough to stab someone, according to one father.

Lawrence Connolly believes the points of the metal 2012 School Games medals, which have been presented to primary pupils, could be dangerous in the wrong hands.

The father-of-two said: "What on earth were these idiots thinking, handing out something like that to children? It does make you wonder how in these health-and-safety days, these slipped through the net. The people who organised it obviously didn't see them like that but they're so sharp, I just pushed one into a wooden table.

"I can't believe someone's allowed these to be given out."

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The technician, who is in his late 50s, spotted a friend's ten-year-old son wearing one of the bronze medals last week and immediately confiscated it.

He said: "He was proudly wearing it round his neck and I thought, 'My God, he's going to stab himself with that.'

"He was taken aback when I took it from him but I said, 'You're not wearing that.' You could hold it in your hand with the point sticking out like a kung fu movie character. I'm sure someone's looked at them and wondered what they could use them for, maybe making a nice scratch down someone's car or something.

"They must be generic, the whole area's probably flooded with these things. I thought, 'What idiots.' These are people with degrees but clearly they haven't got any common sense."

The school games are organised at a local level by committees made up of organisations including local government, schools and sports providers, as well as young people.

A spokesman for the Youth Sports Trust said its guidance was to use the appropriate logo on a square medal and that the decision to use the pointed shape was made locally.