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2023: General Discussion

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Ethan said:
I know people on here have mentioned the security, or lack of, but it's embarrassing that supposedly 2nd to Disney in the world Merlin is so easily accessible
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People keep bringing up the “2nd to Disney” thing but it really isn’t relevant. All it means is Merlin operates more attractions than Disney. It bears no relation to anything else. Operating a large number of attractions shouldn’t mean that the out of hours security of the most remote location is any better.
 
Have watched the video & cannot condone the action of these idiots - judging by the way they were behaving at times I wonder what substance(s) they may have taken.

That said, Merlin's statement should have said "Our security team on duty at Alton Towers on the night in question were clearly asleep". The two idiots were using at least one very high-grade torch. I am not going to go into where the CCTV security cameras are that are relayed back to AT's Security building - but these two idiots passed at least two using this very bright torch. Any moving light source - especially a really bright one - should have caught the attention of anyone watching the CCTV. In particular their actions in X-Sector prove that no-one was monitoring this camera.

AT's security team are not the best by any means - they like nice easy jobs like putting notices on the windscreens of staff cars that have parked in the wrong place. The video in question was clearly filmed on a wet & probably cold night. Cup of tea & a chat / read the paper in Security building, or actually do some work would have been what the security staff were thinking. Pretty clear which option they chose!

rob666 said:
Five mile countryside boundary, in a steep sided wood, not easy to patrol.
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Very true - had these idiots broken into Towers and stayed in the wooded areas, I could fully understand them going undetected. But no, they wandered around the theme park proper & areas that are covered by CCTV that is relayed back to the Security building at Towers. Security sackings are in order here for the people on duty that night.
 
Well done, I was thinking countdown out on a work drive an hour ago...you saved me a calender hunt!
I trust BPB is the same weekend?
 
Not sure if it has been confirmed or not, but the Blue Light Card and Defence Discount Service Buy out days will be he weekend before on the 11th and 12th March.

No mention of a Kids Pass day this year though, so I assume it won’t be happening. Buy maybe John Lewis and another company will have the first weekend in March.
 
djtruefitt said:
Not sure if it has been confirmed or not, but the Blue Light Card and Defence Discount Service Buy out days will be he weekend before on the 11th and 12th March.

No mention of a Kids Pass day this year though, so I assume it won’t be happening. Buy maybe John Lewis and another company will have the first weekend in March.
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KidsPass is on Sunday 5th March!😊
 
Kraken27 said:
Security sackings are in order here for the people on duty that night.
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That's a bit ott.

These things don't happen too often at Alton.

We don't know how many times they've spotted this sort of thing, or how well they do on other metrics, to jump to such an assertion.

I find calling for people to lose their job very distasteful, particularly when said people are probably on pretty poor wages, work unsociable hours, not great terms, etc.

If we operated in a society where people got sacked when they make a mistake, NO-ONE would have a job.
 
Spot on.
Say Towers had a security team of a dozen...cut down to two out of season, who were out on patrol at the time round the hotels, not being able to view cameras as well.
We need to be aware of all the facts before calling for heads on platters.
That goes for coaster freaks speaking off the cuff on the breakfast news as well.
 
Ethan said:
Since when was trespassing illegal.
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You're right it isn't illegal in its own right, until criminal damage is carried out in order to trespass. As the article states:

"Staffordshire Police has confirmed the incident. In a statement, it said: “We were called to Alton Towers Theme Park at 11am on Saturday (January 7) following reports of criminal damage. Two men had forced their way into the site overnight to film a video for social media." "

That implies they broke in - broke locks, fences etc, therefore they have broken the law.
 
I won't go into details for obvious reasons, but there are a number of places around the park boundary that are not fully secure and are easily passed without recourse to criminal damage of any kind whatsoever.
Massive boundary, steep wooded site with loose soil, and tree branches by the thousand.
No "implied"criminal damage, no "request to leave refused", nothing "illegal" at all, just idiots, being idiots.
 
How did they endanger their guests exactly. I am sorry but Alton Towers are stretching a bit there.

Not only is the park closed from guests right now. You would hope (especially after the Smiler incident) they have rigorous inspection routines on all their rides. So that if the idiots did cause any damage that could endanger guests, it would be found and corrected well within time.

I do not condone what they did at all, but i also refuse to look at it with rose tinted glasses and I am sorry, but Alton Towers suggesting guests were endangered annoys me. Totally untrue.
 
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DistortAMG said:
How did they endanger their guests exactly. I am sorry but Alton Towers are stretching a bit there.

Not only is the park closed from guests right now. You would hope (especially after the Smiler incident) they have rigorous inspection routines on all their rides. So that if the idiots did cause any damage that could endanger guests, it would be found and corrected well within time.

I do not condone what they did at all, but i also refuse to look at it with rose tinted glasses and I am sorry, but Alton Towers suggesting guests were endangered annoys me. Totally untrue.
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It is of course pretty unlikely, but it's not impossible that some sort of damage could be caused that's not picked up in checks - especially if they're unable to determine every area they've been in.

However, the main point they're making is to deter others from doing the same thing by pointing out the potential repercussions (I'm not getting into whether said repercussions are possible - as I've said before, they've not been tested as far as I'm aware) and the potential issues those who try it can cause. The media are going to report the incident regardless thanks to the video being online, so Alton Towers have no option but to come out with a statement in the strongest possible terms to put people off doing the same thing.
 
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