A six-year-old boy has spent his ‘final day of school in hospital’ after a Coles anti-theft security gate left him a nasty gash.
Laura Jeacock was in her local Coles with her four children in Lara near Geelong south-west in Melbourne on Wednesday when she heard a panic by the self-checkout exit gates.
The mother rushed over to find her son Kenzie bleeding after he was cut by the corner of the glass doors.
Kenzie had been running towards the security gates when they closed without warning, busting his eye open.
A nearby customer rushed the boy’s aid and helped keep pressure on the wound as Coles staff reportedly watched the chaos unfold.
His mum has spoken out to warn other parents of the danger.
‘[This happening] a week before Christmas is not ideal. Spending his last day of school in hospital is not fun either… the doctors had to check there was no glass in the cut before they glued it together,’ Ms Jeacock told Yahoo News.
‘It was pretty shocking, the staff member who was supposedly medically trained had to Google it [what to do].’
Kenzie Jeacock was injured (pictured) by a Coles smart security gate in Lara on Wednesday
Coles rolled out the anti-theft security gates across Australia last year in response to a jump in shoplifting
The security gates are designed to ‘automatically’ open for customers after they have paid for their items.
Ms Jeacock claimed a Coles employee told her there was no sensor in the gates, meaning there’s ‘nothing to stop it shutting’.
The supermarket chain has since disputed the mother’s claim.
A spokesperson said the gates are ‘designed and tested to meet global and Australian standards and has inbuilt sensors to detect any objects nearby’.
‘With this incident, we have fully investigated and can confirm that the gates operated correctly, however due to the boy’s speed, the gates were not able to open in time,’ they said.
A store manager called Ms Jeacock on Thursday to check on Kenzie and reassure the mother ‘someone had come to look at the gates’ after reviewing CCTV.
Woolworths and Coles began rolling out the new security measure late last year in response to a rise in shoplifting.
The gates came under fire earlier this year after a wheelchair-bound customer was ‘crushed’ by them.
A Coles spokesperson said the gates are ‘designed and tested to meet global and Australian standards and has inbuilt sensors to detect any objects nearby’
‘Halfway through the gate slammed shut on me. Hit my arms and stopped my wheelchair,’ they wrote on Reddit.
‘Beeping away it opened after a second and I pushed through. Yes it hurt. Yes it scared me silly. No I’m not injured. No I don’t think it damaged my wheelchair. No I didn’t shoplift.’
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Coles for further comment.
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