A SEE-SAW collapsed as two 11-year-old girls were playing on it.

A woman was left shocked after a see-saw at Chalkwell Park in Leigh collapsed on Saturday whilst her niece was playing on it.

The two girls were using the see-saw when one said she’d like to get off, at around 4.15pm.

As they were slowing down, one arm of the see-saw broke clean off from the central pole and fell to the ground whilst the girl was sitting on it.

Thankfully, neither of the two girls were hurt, but the woman said had more been using it or if it had been in a different position it could have resulted in serious injury.

The woman, who asked not to be named, said: “Both girls were using the see-saw as it should be used, they weren’t messing around or forcing it, but it just fell off and came crashing down.

“Looking at it afterwards it looks like it was a very clean break, the arm had just snapped off.

“You could tell it wasn’t worn down as all of the paintwork was intact.

“It’s really scary this can just happen. My son said he saw a spark when it happened. By standers were saying it was done up about a month ago with new tyres and everything.”

The play area is managed by Southend Council, with the see-saw equipment being supplied by HAGS UK Ltd.

The woman added: “I’ve heard it has been taken away now, but there was clearly something wrong with it.

“We put trust in our councils to make this play area a safe place for our children to go, but this clearly wasn’t safe.

“Had the circumstances been different, children could have been hurt and we may have had ambulances coming out. I’m glad no one was hurt now but keep thinking what could have happened.”

A Southend Council spokesman said: "We regularly inspect the play areas at each of the parks across the borough, with four inspections taking place in the Chalkwell Park play area last week alone.

"We are currently in contact with the manufacturer regarding the issue and we will be investigating the cause of the incident further."