Normally when a ride goes wrong people end up claiming for a whiplash type injury for a sudden stop or if the ride breaks mid-use and traps people upside down for a while. But according to sources from the BBC, Alton Towers’ brand new £18m Smiler ride has been shut down after wheels fell off and hit four people in the front carriage (source)!
One rider who was hit by debris from the cascading ‘guide wheels’ described the experience as “pretty frightening“. He went on to say “you are at the highest point of the ride and you’ve got all these loops to do and you just think that the carriage is going to come off.”
Another party were about to be sent on as riders shouted down to the operators to stop the ride given the falling wheels. An investigation has commenced in to how this has happened, and it has been confirmed that four people were hit when plastic guide wheels flicked in to a teenager and three adults in the carriage. Injuries were treated by medical staff on site at the park. The rest of the debris was caught by safety netting.
A spokesperson for Alton Towers has said “All of our rides and attractions are expected to meet extremely high standards, technologically, mechanically and in terms of the end experience, and a full investigation is ongoing before we determine whether to re-open the ride.”
“We are sorry for any disappointment the ride’s temporary closure caused our visitors but the health and safety of all of our visitors is our absolute priority.”
The Law on Dangerous Rides
In this kind of scenario we’re generally looking at the Occupiers Liability Act which puts a duty on places like Alton Towers to take all reasonable steps to prevent someone from being injured. In a theme park, health and safety standard must be considerably higher to ensure no one is injured by a defective ride like this. It’s lucky no one appears to have been seriously hurt, and it could have been so much worse.
It begs the question – how does this happen to a machine that cost £18m??? In this day and age of technology and health and safety you’d think this wouldn’t happen. There has been failings somewhere…
Making a Claim
If you are injured through no fault of your own, you can pursue a claim for personal injury compensation and we can offer you a 100% compensation agreement in this kind of scenario. It’s important to claim – not only to recover compensation you are owed, but to ensure this kind of thing never happens again.
As we always say in the industry, things like this could have been so much worse; and people could have been seriously hurt or killed.