Owners of theme park fined £1 million over Evha’s death
JUDGE IMPOSES PENALTY FOR SAFETY FAILINGS BUT ACCEPTS IT WON’T BE PAID
THE operators of Drayton Manor theme park have been fined £1 million at Stafford Crown Court for safety failings which led to the death of an 11-year-old Leicester girl on its water rapids ride.
Evha Jannath was “propelled” from a vessel on the Splash Canyon ride at Drayton Manor, near Tamworth, during an end-of-year school trip with friends from Jameah Girls Academy, in Leicester, on May 9, 2017.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), prosecuting the park for not properly ensuring the safety of its guests, said the theme park’s operators oversaw “systemic failures of safety” on the river rapids ride.
Drayton Manor had admitted breaching Section 3 of the Health and Safety at Work Act.
Sentencing Drayton Manor Theme Parks Ltd at Stafford Crown Court last week, Mr Justice Spencer said: “This was an utterly tragic waste of a young life.”
The HSE said the accident “should never have happened” and that Drayton Manor’s operators “failed to take the action that could have prevented Evha’s death”.
But the judge said there was “no prospect of the fine being paid” as the company operating the park at the time had since gone into administration, after years of losses brought to a head by the site’s shutdown during the pandemic.
The firm’s assets – including the
EVHA Jannath’s family welcomed the fine imposed on the owners of the theme park where she died – though they know it will not be paid.
A judge ordered the owners of Drayton Manor to pay £1 million – despite the firm going into administration since Evha’s death in 2017 – for breaking health and safety laws.
He said the incident was “an utterly tragic waste of a young life”.
Keith Vaz, who took on the case in his former role as the Leicester family’s MP, issued a statement on their behalf.
It said: “We welcome the decision of Mr Justice Spencer, the verdict he has given and the sentence he has imposed.
“However, this process has taken nearly four years to conclude. It has been torture for them.
“Nothing will ever bring Evha back. The whole family lives every day with the human consequences of this tragedy. They remain devastated by her loss.
“When we all visited the site a few days after Evha’s death, we pointed out to the police, the company and the Health and Safety Executive the faults that existed in the system at Drayton Manor.
“However, we allowed justice to take its course.
“No one has lost their jobs as a result of this, the company will not pay this fine, no individual has said they are responsible, but there remains a hole in the heart of the family.
“They
Evha.”
Mr Vaz said: “Lessons need to be learned. After the lockdown is over, water rides such as this one should not be allowed to reopen in the UK will never forget little and elsewhere.
“We urge all companies to heed the words of the judge. The sentence is a powerful message to all others to act immediately.
“If they do not, this tragedy will happen again.”
Sentencing Drayton Manor Theme Parks Ltd at Stafford Crown Court, Mr Justice Spencer said although there was no prospect of the fine being paid, “in my judgment it would be wholly inappropriate to do other than impose the fine which the offence merited”.
“The public and Evha’s family must not be led to think that this serious offence, which resulted in the death of a child, can properly be met by only a nominal (financial) penalty.
“I bear in mind there are other similar rides in the United Kingdom, I bear in mind that this theme park has been sold to another operator and the staff transferred over.” park – were sold under a “pre-pack sale”, the court heard, and were under new ownership, with the attraction set to reopen on April 12.
Splash Canyon has never reopened since Evha’s death, and will not without the HSE’s agreement.
The judge said of the park’s operator: “There was a failure to make appropriate changes following prior incidents of passengers falling into the water. The failure here was noone identified the seriousness of the risk.”
The judge said safety breaches had gone on “over a long period of time”, adding: “The individual members of staff were not to blame, it was the system that was at fault.”
Evha was thrown from the raft while standing up. CCTV showed she was above water for a minute-and-a-half, before falling from a lift carrying vessels out of the rapids.
Evha was not spotted by ride staff and the alarm was only raised because a member of the public saw her fall in.
The judge said: “There was a wellrecognised risk passengers would ignore the signs telling them to remain seated and would stand or move about within the ride.”
The HSE found inadequate or faded signage telling passengers to stay seated, inadequate staff training, an element of under-staffing and a lack of emergency planning for the ride, which opened in 1993.
The judge said it was significant and surprising that boarding passengers were not told by staff to stay “seated at all times”.