Company steps in to save kids’ parties
A FAIRY godmother has stepped in after the collapse of Maidstone children’s entertain- ment firm, Once Upon A Party. Kate Edwards, boss of Kent
Kids Party Time, has been in ne- gotiations with the failed busi- ness owners to honour the parties already booked so that parents are not let down. She has also waved a magic
wand to cancel £50 deposits lodged with the failed firm, by reducing bills by the same amount. Mrs Edwards said: “I know
how important parties are and can only imagine what it must feel like when things go wrong.” The Bearsted business owner,
who launched her firm at the start of the year, added: “It is costing me a fortune, but I don’t want to see the kids let down.” Mrs Edwards said she had
taken a call from one mum who was weeping down the phone and so distraught that she was difficult to understand. “All I could hear was her saying ‘there’s no party, they’ve taken the money.’” Once UponAParty (pictured), owned by Elisha Byrne-Gold, an East Malling mother-of-three, was based in the Royal Star Ar- cade. The firm had parties booked up to December 2013, andMrs Edwards has been inun- datedwith requests for help, tak- ing 12 bookings on one day alone. Comments have been left
AN AYLESFORD firm was fined £5,000 after an employee fell from the tail lift of a lorry and fractured his hip. Palmer and Harvey McLane
Ltd pleaded guilty to health and safety failings following the ac- cident on November 2, 2011, at its depot at Quarry Wood In- dustrial Estate, Mills Road. Sevenoaks magistrates heard
that the employee fell around three to four feet from the tail lift of a truck in a cross-loading operation, where two vehicles are backed up to form a bridge so that stock can be moved from one to the other. His injury resulted in 11 months off work and he no longer works for the company. Stuart Ponting, representing
the warehouse and distribution company, said it was a “regret-
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on the Once Upon a Party web- site, by distressed mums, many ofwhomare also angry about the lack of contact from the firm. Marie Searle posted: “I have
paid in full for my daughter’s eighth birthday on May 28, only to find yesterday that you have shut down. No money back, no party and only three weeks to arrange something else. They are children you are hurting – there should be criminal charges.” The guestbook has now been closed and an announcement on the website informs parents that they will be contacted and offered alternative arrange- ments. In the apologetic mes- sage, the owner says: “It is with a heavy heart that I have to an- nounce we have now ceased trading as a company,” adding: “We are greatly saddened to have let some of you down.”
Firm fined after lorry fall
table” oversight on the part of the firm. Cross-loading had been prohibited by the com- pany but there had been mis- communication of the policy. Harry Teacher, chairman of
the bench, said that although there was no intent by the com- pany to cause accident or in- jury, the company did have a previous safety conviction that he had taken into account. Tonbridge and Malling Coun-
cil, which brought the prosecu- tion, was awarded full costs of £2,441. Cllr Owen Baldock, the bor-
ough’s cabinet member for en- vironmental health, said: “Businesses should always firstly consider if they can avoid working at height and then adoptworking practices to prevent or reduce the risks.”
MP gives her seal of approval
ASUNBATHING seal caused a stir inAylesfordwhen it stopped for a Sunday evening break on the bank of the river Medway. People gathered on the bridge to enjoy the sight and the visit
andMP Tracey Crouch posted a picture on her Twitter account, saying it had caused “much excitement in the village”. A British Divers Marine Life Rescue spokesman said the or- ganisation did not attend as the seal was not in danger or dis- tress. It was thought the seal had followed fish up the river.
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