Youngsters were banned from wearing goggles at a swimming festival – for health and safety reasons.

Children taking part in the Aqua Splash Festival at the Hermitage Leisure Centre, in Whitwick, were told they could only wear goggles if they had a medical reason to do so.

Staff at the pool said it was not their ruling and that they were happy for children to wear goggles.

Leicestershire County Council officials said it was following advice from the Association for Physical Education, the UK organisation which supports PE in schools, plus guidance from the Institute of Sport and Recreation Management based at Loughborough University.

The institute guidelines, which have been in place since 2006, state there has been a history of accidents "firstly as a result of goggles being made of glass or breakable plastics and secondly during the putting on and taking off of goggles".

A spokesman for the institute say it encouraged children not to wear goggles – because "part of the learning to swim experience is for a child to be able to deal with splashing in the face" – but that it was not an enforced rule.

Parents have described the ban at the Aqua Splash event as "laughable".

One 39-year-old father-of-two said: "My daughter learned to swim wearing goggles. She goes swimming with the school – and she wears goggles.

"She goes regularly to the Hermitage Leisure Centre – and she wears goggles. It's a laughable ruling. Surely, it was more likely to cause an accident, rather than prevent one. "You could see the kids at the end of the session – they all looked like they had been lined up and poked in each eye."

The Local Government Association said that applying health and safety laws in an "over-zealous" way puts children off taking part in sport.

North West Leicestershire School Sports Partnership, organisers of the Aqua Splash event, said they were following guidance from the county council.

A council spokesman said: "We have received guidance from the Association for Physical Education, which advises all councils that pupils should not wear goggles in school swimming lessons, unless they have a medical reason to do so.

"The AFPE believes that children wearing goggles are at risk of injury, from colliding with other children or having goggles snapped back in their face. The guidance is supported by the Amateur Swimming Association

"We have informed schools and said it is a matter for their consideration."

An spokeswoman for the ASA, which is also based in Loughborough, said: "Our guidance is that goggles should only be worn by children who suffer excessively from the effects of water chemicals."

Leicester City Council said it also followed the policy that goggles should only be worn if medical circumstances require it.

A spokesman said: "We have our own policy on swimming in public pools which our schools are asked to follow.

"Like the AFPE policy it says that goggles can carry risks and there is little medical benefit to be had from them."

No one from the Association for Physical Education was available for comment.