Ex-Olympian, 80, banned from running up down escalator

An 80-year-old former Olympian has been banned from running the wrong way up escalators because it is too dangerous. Peter Hildreth, who represented Britain at three Olympic Games, was stopped from trying to recreate his old training regime from the 1950s at a department store by the manager.

In his heyday, 110m hurdler Mr Hildreth competed in the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, the 1956 Melbourne Games and then again in 1960 in Rome. His best achievement was to reach the semi-finals in Helsinki. He won Bronze in the 1950 European Championships and equalled the UK record for the 110m, of 14.3 seconds, on five occasions.

The grandfather-of-five managed to run up the moving stairs in a Surrey department store but was then told he would be banned from Elphicks in Farnham if he tried the stunt again.



Mr Hildreth turned his attentions to other shops for a while but has now decided to hang up his escalator running shoes, saying he has proved what he wanted to. He said: "I started doing it last month because I was turning 80. People did not see me do it to start with, I must have done it three or four times. But at the top of the escalator in Elphicks is the women's underwear department and the woman who runs it told me to stop because it was dangerous."

Mr Hildreth, who lives with his second wife Carol, 62, in Long Garden Walk, said manager Graham Duerden "told me I had to be careful because once a month he has someone fall on the escalator. But I have never seen anyone have an accident and I am in there most days. It's health and safety gone mad."

Mr Duerden said: "We have people aged 80 who go the right way up the escalator and fall over so we simply can't have this man attempting this sort of thing. I was aware that he was doing this and we told him that if he continues then he will be banned so now he has stopped I believe."