Mother To Sue Council After Autistic Daughter ‘Left Bruised And Swollen’

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The teen was restrained by teachers at school in Motherwell after ‘kicking off’

• An investigation has been called but two members of staff will not come before courts
• Mother says that she will sue the council in charge and is campaigning over issue
• A mother is now suing her local council after her autistic daughter sustained injuries when she was restrained by staff at school.

Claire Nossiter’s daughter Lyndsay, then aged 16, suffered bruising to her face as well as a swollen jaw after she was restrained at Bothwellpark High in Motherwell.

The mother has since called for staff to face charges over the actions, which the local council insists were in the interests of safety.

After prosecutors decided not to bring two members of staff before the courts, Nossiter vowed to sue local authorities.

Nossiter told The Daily Record: ‘I’d had a call from school saying Lyndsay had “kicked off” and been restrained… [but] she looked like she’d been in a car crash not at school.’

Nossiter says that Lyndsay, who suffers from Prader Willi Syndrome and autism and is now 20, was ‘routinely’ restrained during her time at the school.

She wrote online: ‘If I had done this to Lyndsay she would have been removed from my care but because it’s North Lanarkshire Council staff it’s okay.

‘On her medical notes the doctor wrote too many bruises to count. Our justice system should protect the most vulnerable.’

Nossiter has also started a campaign to ban what she calls the ‘disproportionate restraint of disabled children’.

On a petition which has now received over 5,000 signatures, she wrote: ‘The restraint technique used was degrading and humiliating for my daughter.’

 The Scottish Government previously faced calls to tighten rules on when physical restraint can be used.

Authorities have also previously insisted physical intervention should only be used as a ‘last resort, when in the best interests of the child’ and not as a punishment.

A spokesman for the North Lanarkshire Council told The Daily Record: ‘Approved restraint techniques are sometimes required in the best interests of the pupil, other pupils and staff.’