The Dark Knight Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 http://news.sky.com/story/1494944/carriage...miler-rideIt isn't a ride I've been on but I have heard it has suffered technical difficulties and now this. Some serious injuries apparently and it has been claimed that staff were alerted by visitors to the empty carriage but action was not taken in time to stop it.Just watching Sky News now and Nick Varney, Chief Executive of Merlin Entertainment that owns the park, has said that fail safe systems should in theory make this kind of incident impossible. The investigation involving the Health and Safety Executive will take time but cue the legal claims.Claims over every little thing annoy me but this is a prima facie case of negligence and solicitors will be looking at some serious litigation here. Alton Towers will be insured for this kind of thing and I hope those injured make a full recovery but this is interesting from both the accident and investigation viewpoint and the potential for legal claims. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil 87 Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 I was going to make a thread about this but you beat me to it. It's absolutely shocking, and yes let's hope those injured make a full recovery. This really annoyed me because I've been on this ride many times over the last couple of years and it's probably the best ride I've been on. But it always has technical problems and I think each time I've been it's had delays at some point. The thing is, the empty train is sent round to make sure that it can get all the way round safely, so some cretin must have decided to send the train full of people without checking that the empty train had made it. Hopefully we'll find out exactly why this happened after they've investigated it, but I think there was some human error (or human stupidity) involved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dark Knight Posted June 3, 2015 Author Share Posted June 3, 2015 The news tonight mentioned life changing injuries so there are some seriously valid claims here and I am all for that when it is genuine and of course a thorough investigation so lessons are learned and this does not happen again. Fingers crossed for those who are injured and it will be interesting to monitor developments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil 87 Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 Yeah I'm going to keep track of what happens here, although I wouldn't be surprised if it stops appearing in the news. It's the kind of thing that's only deemed newsworthy when people are hurt, but not when they get better or the problem is fixed. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brigante Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 I didnt find out till this morning but my youngest sister was actually there yesterday She was actually queueing to get on the smiler when staff told everyone queueing that it was having technical difficulties and that they wouldnt be able to ride it. Never mentioned nothing about it just crashing. She went off with her mates to ride other rides and didnt find out anything had actually happened until a few hours later when my second youngest sister saw it on the news and phoned her in a panic to see if she was ok Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil 87 Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 ^ Yeah that must have been scary to see something like that on the news when someone you know is there. I bet there were a lot of panicked phone calls that day. It was on my local news this morning because 2 of those who were seriously injured are from the Leeds area (think it was Barnsley). An 18 year old lad and his 17 year old gf, it's so bad that something like this happens to them at that point in their lives, but at least they should recover quickly if the injuries aren't too bad. I think I heard on the news that one or two of the people taken to hospital were already released. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GingerFlame Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 I read somewhere that the "life changing injury" is down to one poor lad having his leg amputated due to it being crushed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dark Knight Posted June 5, 2015 Author Share Posted June 5, 2015 A couple of updates this evening. One of the teenage victims is sadly in critical condition apparently and her lawyer has already said that substantial damages are on the cards and the possibility of criminal prosecution.http://news.sky.com/story/1497114/alton-towers-crash-teenage-victim-criticalFurther to the above, the boss of Merlin Entertainment has conceded that safety was not adequate. He's got to be in the running for the no sh*t Sherlock award.http://news.sky.com/story/1496893/alton-towers-boss-safety-not-adequate 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Incontro Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 Merlin - quite negligent & didn't take safety seriously at all it seems. Victims probably deserve £££. In the Sky article that you linked, it says that it took 11 minutes for Merlin to call 999! Why the excessive wait? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil 87 Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 It makes sense that they closed Saw - same design as Smiler so probably has all the same fail-safes (which I think they said didn't work properly when Smiler crashed). It's good that some extra safety will come out of this, but Merlin would probably appear as though they didn't care if they tried to just carry on as normal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matey Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 will be very interesting to read the investigation into this but how long do we have to wait? one bloke has had his leg AMPUTATED? Jessus H Christ! these places are supposed to be FUN Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GingerFlame Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 will be very interesting to read the investigation into this but how long do we have to wait? one bloke has had his leg AMPUTATED? Jessus H Christ! these places are supposed to be FUN Not confirmed as to male or female amputation.. but it's now pointing towards female! The chances of this happening to you are less than the chance of you being stuck by lightening twice! Did my research on that one ;) haha 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil 87 Posted June 7, 2015 Share Posted June 7, 2015 ^ Exactly haha. It didn't put me off going to Flamingo Land on Saturday and what a good day that was :). I hadn't been since I went with school almost 15 years ago and they've replaced most of the rides since then. Although they were running one train or car at a time on all of them, so whether that's usual or not it means it's basically impossible for anything to go as horribly wrong as the Smiler incident. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeebowhite Posted June 7, 2015 Share Posted June 7, 2015 Haha, the idea it's less likely to happen to you than being struck twice isn't overly confidence instilling. You still could get shocked by lightening and then walloped on a coaster, and I'd your luck is anything like mine, you will be given a second dose of mother nature's fury for fun. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil 87 Posted June 7, 2015 Share Posted June 7, 2015 ^ Yeah I think it's the lack of control you have on rides that makes them scary, unlike driving a car which is probably 1000x more dangerous. But as long as they have a good sturdy harness I feel safe, what I hate is these rides where they just give you a poorly designed harness that barely holds your legs in place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stoney871 Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 http://uk.news.yahoo.com/alton-towers-crash-victim-leg-amputated-111912276.html Rollercoaster victim Leah Washington, 17, loses her leg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeebowhite Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 It's awful, go out for a great day out at a theme park and this is the outcome... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stoney871 Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 I could crack a joke about getting legless on a night out but I think it may be a tad too soon yet. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeebowhite Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 Perhaps a tad. I can't believe how calm the families seem to be. If that was my daughter, the chiefs would need security details when they go for a pee break... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thatfiestaguy Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 I read somewhere that the "life changing injury" is down to one poor lad having his leg amputated due to it being crushed It's his gf that has had to have her leg amputated above the knee, not the lad, very shocking nonetheless... this type of incident shouldn't happen from something as simple as going on an attraction ride..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GingerFlame Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 It's his gf that has had to have her leg amputated above the knee, not the lad, very shocking nonetheless... this type of incident shouldn't happen from something as simple as going on an attraction ride..... Yeah I read, I had read two contradicting articles and was waiting for confirmation Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAIDER32 Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 Losing anything below the knee is one thing, losing it above the knee has a much greater impact, My brother-in-law lost his foot to the clutch pedal in a HGV crash, they took more of his leg off for a better prosthetic leg, He seemed to take it well though (lucky to be alive), we discussed if you were to lose anything a left foot (lower leg) is your best option, but above the knee though, damn, I'd hate to be in that position right now wondering what the future holds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil 87 Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 Yeah it's a terrible situation to be in, I don't know how I'd be able to cope with something like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmurray01 Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 It is a terrible situation for sure, and I hope she manages to come to terms with it - I'm not sure I could. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gregers Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 god forbid you never have to m8. makes a change though that the powers to be have totally held there hands up. lets hope that the insurance company involved does not add to the stress this young lass and her family are already living.and of course the others who have been injured are no doubt going to be fighting there own demons now aswel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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