Report on crash ride strewn with errors
BY DAVID MEIKLE A SAFETY inspector who provided an error-strewn report on a rollercoaster which later plunged 17ft and left nine people injured has been fined £1000.
William Testo, 44, was asked to compile a report on the Tsunami ride at M&Ds theme park in Motherwell, two months before it crashed despite not having proper training.
A court heard tests on the ride were not carried out properly by Testo and his inspection fell short of industry standards as he was not qualified to perform the examinations.
He gave his findings to fairground inspector Craig Boswell, 56, who later issued a certificate which said the ride was safe to use.
This led to bosses at the park continuing to operate it unaware that it had not been properly inspected.
Boswell failed to notice a second report had not been filed by a technician who had stripped the ride for tests seven months earlier.
The cars of the Tsunami ride came away from the rails at a bend as the attraction reached speeds of 40mph. They fell 17ft from the ride on June 2016 – just 16 days after Boswell had issued the certificate.
Two teenagers and seven younger children on the ride were all injured to the danger of their lives.
At Hamilton Sheriff Court, Testo, of Rutherglen, near Glasgow, admitted breaching health and safety laws in April 2016.
The park’s owners were this year fined £65,000 at the same court after admitting breaching health and safety laws on the ride between June 2015 and June 2016.
Boswell, of Uddingston, Lanarkshire, was given 160 hours of unpaid work for breaching laws in June 2016.