Bad behaviour in Lockwood gym's steam room means early closing

Kirklees Active Leisure has drastically cut the opening hours of one of its club’s steam rooms in a last-ditch attempt to stop bad behaviour.

The trust said that repeated shaving, spitting, swearing, verbal abuse and wearing only underwear at Lockwood Park Health and Fitness Club has forced it to stop members using the facility indefinitely between 5pm and 9.30pm from Monday to Fridays.

The say the move is to to try tackle the on-going problems.

But one member of the gym has been left unimpressed with the changes, which he said is not fair to those who can only use the centre after work.

Issues at the site are thought to have begun around several months ago, when staff were made aware of a number of people who were regularly being rude to members and staff and refusing to stop behaving inappropriately.

Despite trying to tackle the problems by putting up signs around the gym later in the summer, the issues continued.

A spokeswoman from the trust, which runs leisure centres around Kirklees, said: “Following a number of incidents and comments from customers the opening hours of the spa area will be reduced.

“The decision to reduce hours was not taken lightly.

“We have tried a lot of preventative measures and notices have been in place in the spa area since June 2014 but as this inappropriate behaviour has continued we have had no other option than to take action to close the facility on an evening.

“We have a responsibility to keep our customers and staff safe and so we will continue to monitor the situation over the coming months.”

But one Huddersfield resident, who is still a member and did not want to be named, said: “It’s not fair the members who come down to exercise after work.

“It’s a fair point that the complaints have been made about behaviour after 5pm but it’s excluding a lot of people who can only come to exercise there after work, like I do and have paid for a peak membership.

“There is no other time that I can use the gym and steam room and now I’m only getting part of a service that I paid for.

“It was a great place to relax and unwind after a hard workout but now we’re all being deprived of it.

“There are quite a few of us who aren’t happy about this decision and I’m going to have to cancel my membership and find another gym where I can use all the facilities that I’ve paid for and get better value for money.”