A PARKHALL mum’s joy turned to despair when her son and his friends were left “covered in faeces” during a birthday party at a Clydebank soft play centre.

Diane Massie, her son Harry and dozens of their friends turned out at the popular Monkey Madness soft play area on John Knox Street for the youngster’s seventh birthday.

But the 45-year-old mum claims that despite reporting a child had an “accident” at the top of a slide, centre staff failed to act quickly enough – resulting in several children becoming “covered” in the waste.

She says the incident was reported immediately, but a manager said there was “nothing he could do”.

Four of the 20 youngsters who attended the event developed a sickness and diarrhoea bug, and the incident is being investigated by West Dunbartonshire Council’s environmental health team.

Ms Massie told the Clydebank Post: “It was such a shame. It was a mess and then that incident happened.

“I could have cried, and Harry said on the way home ‘why didn’t we play party games?’. I felt heartbroken for him.”

A spokesman from Monkey Madness disputes Ms Massie’s version of events, and insists the centre has gone through “proper channels”.

Ms Massie says she and other adults present tried to wrangle the party goers so they wouldn’t come into contact with the faeces, but she said the space appeared over booked and with so many children it became impossible to stop the mess spreading.

Ms Massie and other members of the party said it took several requests for staff to finally clean the mess up but – despite admitting they were unable to properly clean while it was still in use – they refused to close the area and continued to allow more children to enter the premises.

The children ended up with mess on their clothing and spread it across the other attractions in the centre, such as the climbing frame and ball pit.

Several children – including Ms Massie’s two nephews – had to be taken home and their clothes binned, while the mum and daughter Leah, 12, tried to salvage the event.

Ms Massie and her husband were further shocked when the centre’s manager told them he was not able to give them a refund because they had eaten party food provided by the centre.

The mum-of-two said: “Harry was so excited about it and I didn’t even get to spend time with him because I was dealing with all of this.

“I want my money back because I want to take him and his friends somewhere else.

“A lot of parents at the school have said they won’t be back.”

Responding to the claims, a Monkey Madness manager said: “That [the claims] is not true. Our centre is very clean and very well maintained and very well looked after.

“The reason they were looking for a refund is they felt they had to have the full downstairs to themselves when, in fact, it was not a VIP party they had booked.

“My boss felt it was not a refundable issue because they continued to have their party, they continued to play and they ate the food.

“We’ve gone down the right channels regarding it.

“She [Ms Massie] was offered five free parties as a kind gesture which she took.”

A West Dunbartonshire Council spokesman added: “We can confirm that a complaint has been received and an investigation into the incident is ongoing.”