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Daily Mail
Former civil servant arrested 'for diving into pool'
by OLINKA KOSTER - Last updated at 22:29pm on 23rd January 2007

Flabbergasted: Alan Treece outside court

At 64, Alan Treece believes he is old enough to look after himself.

Which is why he was incensed when a swimming pool attendant warned him not to
dive in to the water to start his weekly swim.

After all, he'd been doing it almost every Sunday morning for 20 years.

But under new health and safety regulations, Mr Treece was meant to lower
himself gently into the water.

When the retired civil servant ignored the instruction and got on with his swim
as usual, he found himself looking up at two police officers on the side of the
pool - called in by the strict female pool attendant he had nicknamed 'Iron
Drawers'.

The officers ordered him out of the water and told him to leave the leisure
complex.

He did so but returned that afternoon to complain. Officers then turned up at
his home and arrested him.

Yesterday, Mr Treece's determination to decide the dangers for himself cost him
dearly when magistrates found him guilty of a public order offence.

The judgment followed three hearings at two different courts in a case that has
rumbled on for seven months.

After the hearing, Mr Treece, who lives with his wife, Rosita, a retired
postmistress, in Erith, South London, said: "I am flabbergasted. I have got no
faith in the legal system and no faith in the police.

"It is a farce. Let's not forget what this is about - I dived in to the deep end
at two metres.

"I am a retired civil servant and I have never been in trouble before."

He said he and his friend Ken Robinson, who accompanies him swimming, had 'got
to this ripe old age making decisions for ourselves'.

The saga began when the pair turned up at the Erith Sports Centre on July 16
last year.

Because they had been seen diving into the pool previously, staff decided to
warn them they would be banned if they did it again.

But they ignored the warning and dived in as usual.

"At about 11.20am, police were called to attend at the sports centre," Sylvia
Hall, prosecuting, told Bromley magistrates.

"There was an allegation that two males were creating a disturbance.

"On arrival one of the officers spoke to the complainant, the team leader Sadie
Peach, and she explained that two males were being somewhat abusive towards her
after she had told them not to dive into the swimming pool.

"Police spoke to Mr Treece and his friend and they were told their behaviour was
unacceptable. ... and asked to leave."

Unrepentant, Mr Treece returned to the centre in the afternoon with his wife, to
check Mrs Peach's name so he could make an official complaint.

During an angry exchange, he is said to have called her a 'f***ing bitch' and
'golden knickers'.

Mrs Peach told the court she told Mr Treece not to dive in because the new pool
had a 'movable' floor and anyone diving risked spinal injuries.

Mr Treece told the court: "We were just swimming as normal as we always do, when
outside a window, a police car turned up, and my friend says to me 'They've
called the police'.

"I said, 'You are paranoid, they wouldn't call the police over a thing like
this' - but how wrong I was.

"I have never sworn at anybody in that leisure centre. We call her Iron Drawers
because she's the only one that pushes the point."

Mr Treece was given a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay costs of
£455 within seven days.