Dad tells of disgust after seeing mouse dart under toy at popular Leith softplay centre

Rodent spotted darting under toddler's ride
Parents were left horrified when mice were spotted at a popular softplay centre in Leith,Parents were left horrified when mice were spotted at a popular softplay centre in Leith,
Parents were left horrified when mice were spotted at a popular softplay centre in Leith,

Parents were left horrified when mice were spotted at a popular softplay centre in Leith,

Mark Ramsay was watching his daughter play on a Peppa pig machine at the Wonder World soft play in Leith when he saw a mouse darting across the carpet under another toy.

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Mr Ramsay said, “I’m not sure how the protocol works but surely they shouldn’t be letting customers in.

“It’s bad with children crawling if there are mouse droppings everywhere - it’s the kids I’m worried about.”

Mr Ramsay attends Wonder World soft play in Leith every Tuesday with his friend and their daughters and had purchased a year-long membership.

When Mr Ramsay’s friend informed a member of staff of the mice, he was told four other people had reported sightings of the animals to the reception.

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“I rung this morning to see if it would be opened and one of the guys hung up on me after I said ‘mouse’”, said Mr Ramsay.

He has cancelled his membership and said he will not return to the soft play area for the foreseeable future.

'Dealing' with the issue

Mr Ramsay was originally told the Environmental Health department would not respond straight away but later received an email saying they were conducting a site visit.

An Edinburgh City Council spokesperson for the Environmental Health Department, said: “We visited the premises for a routine inspection in October last year and found no issues with regards to mice at that time.

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“In the last couple of weeks we have followed up a couple of reports of mice being seen and are satisfied that the premises are taking sufficient steps to deal with the issue. We’ve also given the business advice to assist them with improving standards.”

The incident comes as Wonder World’s kitchen was under scrutiny last week when a customer complained her chicken burger was “raw”.

A spokesperson for the council said: “Wonder World has removed raw chicken from their premises following the raw chicken burger complaint and will make sure that going forward temperatures are being checked.

Managing Director of the Wonder World chain David Capaldi stated that the person who served the dish had been dismissed and defended the centre’s reaction to mouse complaints.

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He said: “Following this alleged incident in our facility earlier this week, EHO [environmental health officers] subsequently attended our site and were satisfied with the thorough inspection they carried out.

“We have also requested that our environmental consultants, who attend our facility on a monthly basis, carry out a further inspection at the earliest opportunity in order that we may reassure both ourselves and our customers that we are taking every step possible to maintain our high standards."

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