Campaign Gains Momentum

Our long established dealers know that we have been trying to find ways of getting speed lace hooks banned from safety boots for many years. In fact, our campaign started in 2005.

There are still safety boots being designed and fitted with lace hooks and although their number has reduced we believe there should not be any.

Now we have direct support from a completely different sector: hiking and walking. Below you will see two more letters which were sent to our website link. We urge you to read them even if they do make grim reading.

Our campaign has been picked up by Walk magazine and now they are in the process of raising awareness of this totally avoidable hazard.

Think of the irony of having a product which is defined as ‘safety’ which undergoes extensive testing for all sorts of resistance to all sorts of hazards yet is fitted with a simple widget which could break your bones and even kill you.

Amazingly neither the UK Health and Safety Executive or the EN standards authority recognises this but momentum is building. It will happen, lace hooks will be banned!

  

With regard to lace hooks I would like to tell you about an accident I had on Norwich Station a few years ago. I was wearing hiking boots and ran for a train. The loop of my lace on the right boot caught in the lace hook of the left and I crashed face down on to the platform. Paramedics were called as I had suffered severe bruising to my face as well as losing a number of teeth. I have now recovered apart from the missing teeth! It would appear that walking boots are as much a danger as work boots. On returning to my village I mentioned it to a friend and he had had the same problem but fortunately the offending hook was pulled out by the force of his lace. I contacted the Rambler magazine (I am a member) to highlight the problem. I have since emailed them twice but still have had no response. I am about to try again to ask if the reason for ignoring my warning is because of the revenue they receive from walking boot manufacturers and stockists. I doubt if they’ll reply to this provocation but we’ll see. Steve Morris Retired Ofsted inspector

I was wearing a pair of hiking boots. My lace which was done up got caught in the hook of the other boot and down I went, this resulted in a very badly broken shoulder. I’ve been off work for three months to date. I looked on the web to see if this is common and came across your ‘sling those hooks’ campaign. I also came across another forum - this only took a few minutes so I am sure there are more. You wouldn’t believe the pain I have been in, and now I am left with a poorly functional arm. I still can’t drive at the moment. If the boot manufacturers know about this why are they still producing them? I have also heard about people driving and suddenly can’t brake. Sue Green

I agree these hooks should be banned from boots and shoes... Yesterday, I was working in the garden and the loop of the lace from one boot caught the hook on the other and I fell flat on my face, nearly breaking my finger! It was fortunate that it was on grass because had it been on concrete who knows how badly I could have been injured... and imagine if I had been on my roof or out on the street? It was like having your shoelaces tied together, a frightening experience. They ARE a serious hazard... I agree! Having removed the hooks and put the laces through the holes I now wonder why they bothered to use these hooks anyway! I can understand using them on knee-high boots (or high boots), where they would save time BUT I can see no time saved at all on these boots... and to put them on shoes is even more ridiculous. I can only see that perhaps they save time when people are trying them on in the shop! That's all. They have no place on Safety, Work, Military or Hiking boots and to put them on cross-country ski boots and roller skate boots is really, really stupid. http://forums.bowsite.com/tf/bgforums/thread.cfm?forum=2&threadid=404075 this website has one guy where this happened to whilst he was driving... and another where the cable of his hang glider caught on his boot and he had to land with one leg only! p.s. the company that sold me these boots say that they take my complaint seriously and will advise their buyers. I have checked their website and their store and can find NO boots that use these hooks at this time, HOWEVER, they did have a few shoes with hooks at the top! Peter King Melbourne, Australia

I agree entirely they need to be banned from both safety and hiking boots. We sell safety boots and use hiking boots.   Several years ago I had the same experience with hiking boots when walking in Wales where the left foot lace loop snagged on right foot lace hook – I hit the ground so fast I was unable to react. I was very, very fortunate that this happened on a flat stretch of path. Less than an hour before I had been walking on a narrow path crossing a long stretch of steep slope.   I need to replace my old hiking boots but will not as the design has changed to incorporate lace hooks instead of rings.   Nigel Bradshaw COMPASS APPAREL LTD