Hairdresser calls for the closure of M& Ds
A hairdresser who nearly lost her leg at underfire theme park M& D’s says the park should be shut down after owners ignored a serious safety warning.
Kirsten Sweeney, 20, from Girvan, was left with a huge scar on her calf after being injured on the White Water log flume three years ago.
She says she has been left so badly scarred that people believe she is a shark attack victim.
The theme park is at the centre of a joint Police Scotland and Health and Safety Executive investigation following last month’s Tsunami rollercoaster crash, which saw 10 people hurt.
The expecting mum said: “M& D’s should be shut down. My accident was totally swept under the carpet.
“I’ve always thought, ‘ What if it was a kid on that ride instead of me?’ A young child’s leg would have been snapped clean off.
“The thing that upsets me most was that M& D’s insurers added insult to injury by trying to blame me for what happened.
“They said I had been standing up when you can clearly see I’m sitting down in a picture of me on the ride.
“They preferred to wriggle off the hook rather than deal with a serious safety injury.”
Kirsten was injured when the log boat she was riding in with a friend overturned, throwing her out.
Her leg became pinned in a gap between the barrier and a splashback guard and she was left screaming for help for 10 minutes.
Her dad tried to rescue her, with others forced to help to free her – and Kirsten claims an M& D’s employee then tried to patch her up with a tea towel.
She said: “Eventually someone from M& D’s arrived with a wheelchair and a tea towel to wrap around my leg. I was in a state of shock.
“I was in so much pain, they had to stop the ambulance in the middle of the road to give me morphine.”
M& D’s said all their staff are trained in evacuation procedures and their response to this incident was immediate.
They added: “Every ride is safety checked on a daily basis and undergoes a thorough independent inspection every 12 months.
“Additional safety checks are carried out on rides that have been stopped before they are re- started.”