Rollercoaster Accident – Lightwater Valley

ARTICLE BY NATASHA GOLDING

On Thursday 30^th May 2019, a seven-year-old boy was unfortunately caused to fall from Lightwater Valley’s rollercoaster ‘Twister’, resulting in injuries requiring an air ambulance to take him to hospital at Leeds General Infirmary.

One witness advised that before the fall, he saw that the boy was out of his restraints and coming out of his carriage, with his Mother next to him screaming. The witness also noted that despite people in the queue telling the ride operator to stop it, it was approximately ten to fifteen seconds before they even noticed.

Unfortunately, this is not the first incident on the ride in question. In 2001, a female student passed away when two of the carriages were caused to collide. At the time, the owners/manufacturers were fined £155,000 after investigations uncovered faulty wiring. It is reported that further incidents have also occurred on other rides causing injuries.

It has been noted that the HSE (Health and Safety Executive) has been informed of the incident, which will now be required to investigate the matter.

Given the vastly reported incident which took place at Alton Towers in June 2015, it is surprising that injuries are still being caused where Health and Safety procedures have possibly not been followed correctly, or rigorous systems of inspection and maintenance have not picked up on any possible faults.

Following the accident on the ‘Smiler’ ride, Stafford County Court decided to fine the owners following criminal investigations into the Health and Safety procedures in place at the time.

Hopefully, as Alton Towers did, Lightwater Valley will look to make whatever amendments are required to their Health and Safety practices in order to help reduce the risk of such an accident occurring again in the future.