A BOLTON dad was hopping mad when a pogo stick accident left him in agony with cracked vertebrae just minutes after he had bought the toy.

The fall led to a three year legal battle with the manufacturers for John Riley. But now he is celebrating after winning nearly £14,000 in an out of court settlement plus costs of nearly £10,000.

The drama began in 1996 when John, a self employed alarm fitter, was persuaded by his nine-year-old daughter Alexandra to buy her a pogo stick.

Flying

The family were still in the Chorley store where they bought it when John put the toy together to show Alexandra how to use it.

"I was just trying it out for the first time when the rubber ferrule flew off the end and I went flying," he said.

"There was a crack as I hit the ground and I had to lie on the floor in agony while an ambulance was called."

The ferrule came off mid bounce and the pogo stick had slid on a shiny tiled floor, sending John crashing to the ground.

The 40-year-old alarm fitter, from Grace Street, Horwich, spent nine days in hospital and was unable to work for a year. John's partner, Sylvia Greenwood was so angry about what had happened that she contacted Bolton solicitors Kippax Beaumont Lewis while he was still in hospital and they arranged legal aid for him to fight his compensation case.

"Even though this was an unusual way to be injured, Mr Riley always had a strong case against the manufacturers," said solicitor Nick Lewis.

"The whole thing took quite a lot of time because the manufacturers of the pogo stick had gone out of business and we had to deal with their insurers.

"Initially they denied liability. It became complicated when the defendants produced volumes of evidence about the production of the stick."

John, who still suffers pain as a result of the injury, has now vowed that his pogo bouncing days are over.

"I thought before I bought one that they were silly, dangerous things and I've proved it right," he said.

Luckily John says he has a sense of humour to put up with the "stick" he now gets from his mates about the way he was injured.

"Whenever people ask what happened I like to refer to it as a 'sporting accident'," he joked.

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