A father who died after he was restrained at a Pontins holiday park had “lunged” at an off-duty worker in the resort’s ballroom bar during an argument about a child’s behaviour, an inquest heard.

Paul Reynolds, also known as Paul Gladwell, died in hospital two days after the incident at Pontins Pakefield near Lowestoft, in February 2017.

Pontins worker David Foster told an inquest on Tuesday that he was off-duty and in the bar with his partner on the evening of February 14 when Mr Reynolds’s partner Carrie Bennett came over and accosted another woman in his group about her child’s behaviour.

Ms Bennett earlier told the hearing in Ipswich that the woman’s daughter had been “smacking” her son.

Mr Foster agreed in questioning Ms Bennett was verbally aggressive and 38-year-old Mr Reynolds, from Colchester, had tried to get her to leave.

He said Mr Reynolds left the bar then returned with a pushchair and joined the argument.

He said Mr Reynolds’s arms were “waving around”, adding: "I said ‘calm down, there’s children present’, that’s when he stepped towards me.”

Mr Foster said Mr Reynolds “moved the table and chairs out of the way to get to me”.

Mr Foster said he stood up from his seat.

“He lunged at me, that’s when (security worker) Tim (Cator-Durrant) grabbed him from behind,” he said.

Mr Foster said there were “seconds” between him standing up and Mr Reynolds “lunging” at him.

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He said that he helped security staff restrain Mr Reynolds on the ground “for the safety of other staff and other guests that were around, and himself”.

He said he “never” had a knee on Mr Reynolds’s back, adding that his knee was “on the floor close to his body”.

He said they checked that Mr Reynolds was breathing and that he helped police carry him to the police van once officers arrived.

Asked if he would have done anything differently, he said: “If I could have walked away, not got up.”

He said that the restraint was “done properly”.

The inquest was previously told that police stopped the van “when they noticed Mr Reynolds being unwell” on the way to the police investigation centre and performed CPR until paramedics arrived.

Mr Reynolds was taken to hospital where he died on February 16.

The inquest, which is being heard before a jury, continues.