Belfast: Hundreds charged in error for child leisure cards

Greenwich Leisure Limited runs leisure centres for Belfast City Council under the Better brand - including this one in Andersonstown

By Brendan Hughes

BBC News NI political reporter

The operator of Belfast's leisure centres has apologised after hundreds of people were wrongly charged for child discount cards.

Greenwich Leisure Limited (GLL) runs more than a dozen facilities under the Better brand for Belfast City Council.

It said 450 people in the past year were charged about £5.75 each for the cards, which were supposed to be offered free, due to an "IT error".

GLL said it is working through its database to issue refunds.

The Junior Pay and Play Card allows children living in Belfast to access discounts of up to 30% off leisure activities, including swimming, junior gym sessions, football, badminton and tennis.

The cards were supposed to be offered free of charge under the scheme, which was launched in 2021.

Image source, Getty Images

Concerns have been raised about inactivity among children

A spokesman for GLL said it was "alerted to the situation of children being erroneously charged £5.75" for the cards.

"Following an internal investigation, we have confirmed this was due to an IT error which has now been rectified," he added.

"We take full responsibility for this error and are now working through our database to ensure that the accounts of every user charged will be credited with that amount."

GLL hopes all those affected will have their accounts credited "by the end of the month".

"We are sorry for the confusion and inconvenience this may have caused," the spokesman added.

'Very disappointing'

SDLP councillor Gary McKeown, who alerted officials to the error, described it as "very disappointing".

"This means that during a cost-of-living crisis, many households have been left with the choice of paying for a Junior Pay and Play Card or paying full price for children to enjoy sporting activities," he said.

"This is a choice they shouldn't have had to make."

He said he was pleased the system has been updated, but added: "What we will never know is how many people didn't avail of the card because they were going to be charged for it."

Belfast City Council referred questions asked by BBC News NI to GLL.