Ruislip & Eastcote & Northwood Gazette
‘SHOCK’ AS WOMAN IS INJURED FALLING FROM RIDE
POLICE SEEK WITNESSES TO ACCIDENT ON ORBITER-STYLE RIDE
OWNERS of a funfair where a woman was seriously injured when she fell from a ride have said they are in “deep shock” and “desperate to know” how the incident happened.
Staff at Funderpark XXL, which has made Philpots Farm in Yiewsley its home for three weeks, said there was “no evidence that the operators or organisers have done anything wrong”.
A woman in her 40s was rushed to hospital with “serious injuries” on Tuesday April 10 after she came off the Xlerator ride – hitting her head and landing metres away next to the fence of another ride.
It is believed she was at the funfair with her daughter who was on the ride with her at the time of the incident.
Speaking exclusively to GetWestLondon, Ray Smith, health and safety advisor at Funderpark, said: “On the night of the accident, when [the owner] called me, they were in deep shock and they couldn’t talk to anyone. Their families have been in this business for seven generations.
“We’re desperate to know how it happened so we can make sure nothing like that can ever happen again. We want to assist with the enquiries.
“The police have been excellent, and the public were very good too, very calm on the night and the fair was closed immediately.
“It shouldn’t have happened. People should come to a fair, have a good time and go home and that’s that.
“I’ve had to attend serious accidents and fatalities in my career, but they are very, very rare and very, very shocking.
“I’ve never seen one where you look at a ride and don’t know how it happened – we haven’t got a clue – and we hope some of the witnesses can help and the outcomes of the tests let us know what happened.”
“The fact that this is such a big shock shows how safe this industry is. Everybody here cares,” Mr Smith continued.
“If that ride is closed, and it will be, that family don’t earn any money. Because that is their source of income.
“They have a financial reason to make sure every bit of the ride works. They can’t cut corners, they’d be prosecuted.”
The Xlerator, which is an ‘Orbiter’ style ride, is three years old, of a British-built “modern design” and has never had accident occur on it before, it was said.
The Health and Safety Executive has been on the scene testing the machines since the incident.
Mr Smith added: “This particular ride has a double computerised safety system. When the barriers come down they click, and they click again. Then the lights are activated in the control box. If any of those lights are not activated, the ride will not open.
“If someone somehow dislodges one of the locks, the ride will stop. It comes slowly to a halt.
“In this case, the ride continued operating. The guy running it didn’t even know someone had come off it, because there was no commotion on the ride.
“The man who owns [Xlerator] and his son, who was operating it, are in considerable shock. It’s never happened to them.”
The injured woman’s condition was said to now be “non-life threatening”.
Anyone who witnessed the incident is urged to call police.
The funfair was reopened on Wednesday April 11.