Alton Towers reopens ride which injured five

Hundreds of people queued to ride Alton Towers’ Smiler rollercoaster yesterday, nine months after an accident which left five people with serious or life-changing injuries.

The Staffordshire theme park said it has sought to “learn every possible lesson” from last June’s crash before deciding to restart the £18 million ride.

Two teenage passengers, Vicky Balch and Leah Washington, had leg amputations after their carriage on the Smiler ride collided with a stationary car on June 2. Three other people were seriously injured in the crash, which the park owner Merlin Entertainments said was due to human error.