Alton towers accident - smiler

[@Lee]

A chap on the radio yesterday worked for Chessington when they were owned by Tussauds said that after Merlin took over, safety didn't seem as paramount as it did under Tussauds. Take from that what you will.

[Dr Zoidberg]

500k a day is the current estimate to keep the park shut

Per day!

 

 

Sounds about right - if you've got 20000 people visiting per day (28k capacity), paying on average £25 because everyone uses 2 for 1 vouchers there's your half million

[gadgetman]

Surprised that the cars don't have buffers like trains and most other coaster cars do

[Aspman]

Sounds about right - if you've got 20000 people visiting per day (28k capacity), paying on average £25 because everyone uses 2 for 1 vouchers there's your half million

 

+ the food, junk, queue jump tickets, photographs etc.

 

500k is probably pretty conservative.

 

I suppose there are no buffers on the cars since they are never supposed to touch at speed. similarly I guess the carriages won't be made to take any sort of impact. One picture I saw certainly looked like the floor of the carriage was folded up.

[Dr Zoidberg]

Yep, the front of the carriage is designed to keep your legs within the limits, not to act as a crumple zone.

[Coops]

Given all the issues with Smiler I can see it never opening again. They are going to need to take some serious modifications and adjustments to get it to work properly, plus rebuild the confidence of the paying customer - are you really going to want to ride on it knowing the issues?

[Taxi_G]

Given all the issues with Smiler I can see it never opening again. They are going to need to take some serious modifications and adjustments to get it to work properly, plus rebuild the confidence of the paying customer - are you really going to want to ride on it knowing the issues?

You know what, id go on it next week if it was opened! I was down a few weeks ago and was on it 5 times, each time I felt secure! How many times since its been opened has it operated successfully, ok what happened the other day should never of happened, but it did and I'm sure the Alton towers owners will do everything in their powers to get to the bottom of it along with the HSE, if it's unsafe then your right it shouldn't be opened, what happened was an accident and unfortunately some 16 people have been involved in said accident, doesn't make it an unsafe ride. Previous faults had been rectified, obviously this new fault, human or computer error hasn't yet been disclosed. Just my opinion

G

[Chris]

BT once hired out the whole park for £1million for the day.

According to reports, the park will reopen within the next few days but the smiler and Saw at Thorpe Park will remain closed for the forseeable future.

[VRS Mike]

I'd go on it, I probably would avoid sitting at the front though!

[swordstoke]

HSE have taken the two carriages involved for further analysis.

 

 

 

Good to know Merlin have closed other rides as a precautionary measure. 

 

Saw at Thorpe Park, The Smiler at Alton Towers, and Dragon's Fury and Rattlesnake at Chessington World of Adventures have all been closed.

[gadgetman]

They'll probably reopen, but I doubt this year.  New carriages will need designing IMO

[Coops]

+ the food, junk, queue jump tickets, photographs etc.

500k is probably pretty conservative.

I suppose there are no buffers on the cars since they are never supposed to touch at speed. similarly I guess the carriages won't be made to take any sort of impact. One picture I saw certainly looked like the floor of the carriage was folded up.

That's revenue though and not cost. Their profit margins will be colossal.

[meta55b]

It's not the first time Altontowers has had major problems. The Thunder looper used to break down all the time. I rode it once and the safety bar jumped up when they pressed the go button, lucky for me the car didn't move. The same also happend to my cousin sitting directly in front of me.

[vigyaz]

What i dont understand is that the cars have no crumple zones at all on them, were the designers of the ride that sure of the electrical safety system on the machine that they disregarded the potential for a collision with another car? stupidity if you ask me, and its the customers who suffer!

 

i work as a maintenance spark for a living, and the machines i work on though not even in direct contact with the public, have stringent safety systems on them which incorporate both an electrical + physical limits / safety's, being that this ride is for the purpose of entertainment surely the ruling on safety shouldve been even more stringent??

 

a lack of foresight, or a money saving excercise, you decide... 

[lfc958]

I still cannot understand the operators complete reliance on the technology saying it was OK to send out a full carriage.

 

It is probably as boring as watching grass grow doing the job of just pressing  buttons & watching Red / Green lights to control a coaster ride.

BUT,

Surely the operator knew an empty one went out & had not returned - This is the real thing i cannot understand.

 

At least Merlin have admitted fault & not done a Thomas Cook , running away saying its not our fault along with hoping that court costs & time would make people give up.

[swordstoke]

Rather worrying.....

 

 

 

http://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/Alton-Towers-closes-rollercoasters-metal-clip/story-26679867-detail/story.html

[Coops]

^^ That's not good news is it?

 

Heard the new Octonauts ride also had to be closed today - stopped working when Iittle kids were on it.

['daiking']

Heard the new Octonauts ride also had to be closed today - stopped working when Iittle kids were on it.

Sound the Octo-alert!

[Aspman]

Daily Fail

 

"PANIC AT ALTON TOWERS"

 

Octonaut ride stops with no injuries.

One child cries

evacuation begins

 

Octo-alert hit at Daily Fail HQ

[Chris]

Apparently the news outlets have been reporting on every bit of downtime since the park reopened. Rides do stop, do get evacuated. Its part of the safety systems. From what I understand the octonauts coaster was evac'd because a rider became distressed and they evacuated to sort them out.

[Loz]

Daily Fail

"PANIC AT ALTON TOWERS"

Octonaut ride stops with no injuries.

One child cries

evacuation begins

Octo-alert hit at Daily Fail HQ

Lol! I know, it's ridiculous! Rides often break down and are frequently evacuated, it's not a big deal or dangerous at all. What happened on smiler was a freak accident and I've never heard the like of it before. Even the big one crashed few months after opening, but it wasn't widely reported as there were no injuries and it wasn't serious. I just remember that it happened.

What I can't work out is where they were sat. I assumed they were front row as there were 4 people who received such horrific injuries, yet there were others on board who didn't. However in the 'aftermath' footage of the carriage rolling back and forth on the track, the front carriage appears totally empty?

[niceyellow vrs]

What I can't work out is where they were sat. I assumed they were front row as there were 4 people who received such horrific injuries, yet there were others on board who didn't. However in the 'aftermath' footage of the carriage rolling back and forth on the track, the front carriage appears totally empty?

 

That's because the front carriage was empty. The footage of it all rolling back and forth was both carriages wedged together where the second carriage, the one with people on, had smashed into the back of the empty one. Therefore, the people with the worst injuries are effectively in the middle of it all.

[XLBaconDoubleCheese]

Yeah the people hurt most were in the front row of the carriage squashed into the back of the second one. 

 

It's sad and my thoughts go out to those effected but at the same time I'm not sure the scrutinising of every ride delay is helping, it was a freak accident, if you calculate the % terms of people hurt that visit theme parks over the years it's minute, it's being investigated and people (the media) just need to take a step back I think. 

[MikeF]

first photo in post one shows the front row of the second carriage with crushed and buckled floor!

[Aspman]

 

It's sad and my thoughts go out to those effected but at the same time I'm not sure the scrutinising of every ride delay is helping, it was a freak accident, if you calculate the % terms of people hurt that visit theme parks over the years it's minute, it's being investigated and people (the media) just need to take a step back I think. 

 

I worry that it's the same as cars where the first thing a technician does is plug in a laptop.

Did the Alton Towers staff just look at a monitor rather than looking out a window to see of the the tracks were clear?

 

Should I be speculating , no.