Alton Towers ride horror was ‘like 90mph car crash’
THE Alton Towers rollercoaster crash that left passengers with life-changing injuries was like a 1.5-ton family car crashing at 90mph, a court heard yesterday.
Theme-park operator Merlin Attractions may face a £10million fine after admitting breaching health and safety law.
Yesterday it emerged staff running the Smiler ride had failed to read its operating manual and took 17 minutes to dial 999 after the devastating crash last June.
Victims sitting in Staffordshire Crown Court yesterday watched chilling footage of the moment passengers on the ride smashed into a stationary empty carriage.
The sentencing hearing, which will last two days, was told the tragedy happened after engineers overrode a fault detected by the computer system.
Leah Washington, 18, of Barnsley, South Yorkshire, and Vicky Balch, 20, of Leyland, Lancashire, each had a leg amputated after the crash. Their boyfriends Joe Pugh, 18, from Barnsley, and Daniel Thorpe, 28, from Buxton, Derbyshire, suffered serious leg injuries. Chandaben Chauhan, 49, of Wednesbury, West was also injured.
Bernard Thorogood, prosecuting said the impact was like a “car of 1.5 tons having collided at about 90mph”.
A damning report by the Health and Safety Executive revealed employees were offered bonuses to get as many people on the ride as possible.
Alton Towers has instituted 30 changes following the crash to improve safety of the ride, the Midlands, court heard. Simon Antrobus, for Alton Towers, said executives accepted responsibility for the crash and apologised.
He described Merlin as “the most reputable operator in this field” and it employed 8,000 staff across 11 sites.
Mr Antrobus said: “It’s a good organisation that made a serious failure but is one that is of otherwise good character.”
Asked by the judge if anyone had resigned as a result of the crash, Mr Antrobus replied: “No.” The hearing continues today.