Accident on the "Smiler" at Alton Towers

[bobjimwilly]

Did anyone see this reported on the news? I must have missed it with all the FIFA stuff going on:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ems1fgKysVQ" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ems1fgKysVQ</a>

The video shows two carriages that have come together; the front one was empty and the back one had 16 people on. For those who aren't familiar with the ride two carriages run on the track at the same time, like a lot of modern rides, but obviously they are never supposed to come together. 4 people were seriously hurt.

 

[grayx]

Yes mate, it was all over the 6 o'clock news.
One carriage full of passengers crashed into an empty one that was stuck on the track . By all accounts that particular ride had been "playing up" most of the day and had been shut for service/repair BEFORE that accident. Sounds like someones gonna get their arse chewed for reopening it ..

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

Looking at some of the details they need to change their policies. Would never happen on the ride I used to work on in Florida.  After any sort of technical issue our measures were more stringent than those they've used here to avoid anything like this.

There are a lot of incidents on rides like this but the management of them on the whole means people don't really notice. It's the nature of the beast that they will be closed often for safety. Unfortunately it looks like this one wasn't sorted. It staggers me that they didn't notice or couldn't stop the other car.