A LOCAL council has banned swimmers from doing backstroke in its pool, saying it fears they could injure themselves if they collide.

 

Bathers at the Daisyfield pool in Blackburn, northwest England, have been told they can only do forward strokes during busy periods when the pool is divided into lanes, officials said today.

 

``This is not about threats of legal action,'' said Kate Hollern, an executive on Blackburn and Darwen Council responsible for culture, leisure and sport.

 

``We are limiting the times when people can swim backstroke to prevent dangerous collisions.P ``We would expect that people would be concerned for their own safety as well as that of others and we are being proactive in introducing these rules.''

 

Hollern said the new rules complied with guidelines issued by the national Institute of Sport and Recreation Management, and were ``designed be inclusive to ensure that all people can use our facilities in a safe way''.

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