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Children watched by staff

Koxy

Koxy

TS Member
Hi,

I wonder if anyone can assist me. My 2 daughters (10 and 8) were taken to Alton towers by their dad and his partner. I have just discovered that they were left in the care of staff at Alton towers whilst the adults rode the big rides together. Not the parent queue thing. I am awaiting a call back from Alton Towers on their policy however I am pretty horrified. I didn’t think they allowed this at all?! The staff they were left with were the ones loading and unloading people onto rides so my thought would be that their attention should be on the safety of the ride and would be distracted. Just wondered if anyone else had experienced this and if you know what their normal policy is. Thanks in advance

[Mod Edit] Latest post from OP clarifies the actual situation and that they were not left on the ride platform
 
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I find it very hard to believe any member of staff would allow this to happen. For a start, guests are not allowed on the platforms when the trains are in motion, never mind young children too small to ride (who shouldn't even be allowed to queue!)
 
Guests under the height restriction are not allowed in the queue lines. In years gone by there used to be a host at the entrance to enforce this, but not all the rides have one these days (budget cuts) so staff in the station will check heights and prevent them from riding instead.

As @DiogoJ42 mentions, nobody is allowed to remain on the platform while the ride is in motion. It's possible your children waited just outside the station exit gate, but if so then I can't imagine staff were aware of what was going on. They would never approve of this and would always ensure they're with a responsible adult.

I think there's something not quite right with the account as it's been told to you.
 
For many years, we used to leave a friend on the unloading platform on Shockwave at Drayton, he had complex learning problems, and was constantly on the edge of riding, but the staff were happy to assist in the circumstances.
Only ride it ever happened on...and his language when he eventually rode it was ruder than me at my worst.
...and Alsty beat me to the ...wait just behind the gate...system that is usually the basic rule.
It happens a lot.
 
I’ve seen plenty of parents take their under height kids in the queue to then tell them to wait at the exit gate on the ride.
Don’t think I’ve ever seen the ride hosts lokking after the kids tho.
That’s not their responsibility
Like property left in storage lockers. Kids are left at the owners risk.
 
I guess there's a bit of a difference between "can you just keep an eye on them?" and "Alton Towers free child minding service". I also can't imagine a staff member agreeing to supervise kids while parents go on rides.

I can (and have) seen a selfish parent shuffle off their kid onto the exit platform and tell them to wait there without asking a staff member if it's ok, staff then usually put them behind the exit gate and tell them to wait there, but it's not an official childminding service nor should they ever offer one, so maybe your outrage @Koxy would be better aimed at your children's father than the park as from what you've said, it sounds more like this happened than the story you've been woven.

I know it sounds like we're all jumping to Alton's defence, but they don't offer a free childminding service at the ride platform, they do operate a system called parent swap where each parent rides individually while the other looks after the kids and the second parent gets to use the fast track entrance to minimise the wait, but yeah, what you've been told is unlikely to have happened, but I think you suspect that already, since you've come here to ask if it's general practice...
 
Thank you all for your replies, I spoke to the children separately. The eldest told my parents as they were dropped off with them and the youngest gave the same account to me. Not at all storing this information to use at a later date against him, I would rather this hadn’t of happened and they had the perfect day. I haven’t made a big deal about it with them at all. They waited on the platform. The children were not together when they told me this and their accounts match exactly so I am sure on the circumstances. Kids can exaggerate lol. The eldest didn’t want my mum to tell me.
 
IanSR said:
I guess there's a bit of a difference between "can you just keep an eye on them?" and "Alton Towers free child minding service". I also can't imagine a staff member agreeing to supervise kids while parents go on rides.

I can (and have) seen a selfish parent shuffle off their kid onto the exit platform and tell them to wait there without asking a staff member if it's ok, staff then usually put them behind the exit gate and tell them to wait there, but it's not an official childminding service nor should they ever offer one, so maybe your outrage @Koxy would be better aimed at your children's father than the park as from what you've said, it sounds more like this happened than the story you've been woven.

I know it sounds like we're all jumping to Alton's defence, but they don't offer a free childminding service at the ride platform, they do operate a system called parent swap where each parent rides individually while the other looks after the kids and the second parent gets to use the fast track entrance to minimise the wait, but yeah, what you've been told is unlikely to have happened, but I think you suspect that already, since you've come here to ask if it's general practice...
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In no way am I angry with the park at all, I agree I am not sure the staff were asked at all and the call back is purely to ask their policy and stance on this. My aim is just to ensure the safeguarding of our daughters as this is not something that I am comfortable with at all. I could see the parent queue thing which is a fab way to ensure this doesn’t happen and I cannot understand why this didn’t happen.
 
The chances of anybody being allowed to remain on the platform during a dispatch are practically zero. This is a rule that was always strictly enforced even before rules were tightened up after the Smiler incident. I just can't see it happening. For it to then happen again and again on other attractions..?

I believe there is CCTV on the platforms, so if you're quick they can probably review the footage before it gets overwritten which would confirm the actual events.
 
Yeah I was shocked but both have given the same account separately. Thank you I will speak to them today.
 
Alsty said:
The chances of anybody being allowed to remain on the platform during a dispatch are practically zero. This is a rule that was always strictly enforced even before rules were tightened up after the Smiler incident. I just can't see it happening. For it to then happen again and again on other attractions..?

I believe there is CCTV on the platforms, so if you're quick they can probably review the footage before it gets overwritten which would confirm the actual events.
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They're more likely to have waited in the exit area than the platform, so at the top of the stairs on Smiler/Galatica in the RAP queue Nemesis etc.

Sadly @RicketyCricket, what is acceptable today is very different to what was when we were kids, some of the stuff I used to do at that age people simply wouldn't believe nowdays.

Koxy said:
the parent queue thing which is a fab way to ensure this doesn’t happen and I cannot understand why this didn’t happen.
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You probably don't want me to answer that.... LOL
 
Twice I've seen small kids refusing to get on Wickerman after the pre-show scared the bejezus out of them. Must be frustrating queuing for an hour and not getting to ride because your kid thinks they're being sacraficed to feed the flames.
 
I personally don't know the policy regarding leaving kids at the park while the parents go on rides. Back in the day when I was a kid, at your kids age and younger, I and my two sisters used to walk and ride our bikes here there and everywhere on our own, back then, the world was a much more dangerous place. At your kids age, my two daughters used to walk themselves to school. There is no law against this unless your kids are putting in danger, today we tend to wrap kids up in cotton wool too much.

I personally can't say that if your kids were ever put in danger or not, but the fact that they came back safe and well shows that they were OK. A good parent will teach the kids to never speak or go off with a stranger, and if someone were to take them, then they are taught to scream out as loud as possible "Help, you are not my parents".

I personally can't see that the staff will be responsible to look after children. However I probably can see them being told to stay just on the other side of the exit gate, usually where the disable waiting holding is.

I know it's difficult to let go, but when you hand your children over to your ex, you also hand over the responsibility and care, even if you don't agree their methods. I'm speaking from a point of view that I've been divorced twice and have children from two previous marriages. And I've also lost count how many times I've taken my kids to a theme park and left them to one side (usually they were allowed to queue with me and then they would then stand on the other side of the exit gate) when I went on rides. However this would have been a decade ago.

I'm also sure that you kids would have also manage to get on some rides and also had a great day too.

Edit to correct spelling grammar,
 
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Surely a 10 year old would be responsible enough to stand behind the barrier at the exit with their sister and wait the couple of minutes until the adult returns? I know I was/did at that age. Hell, me and my sister would often be left to our own devices to wander round Pleasurewood Hills together unsupervised at that age while my parents stayed in Gunton Hall next door.
 
spinba11 said:
When you say on the platform what do you actually mean?
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They walked over the carriage and to the platform on the other side of the carriage. I said to them ‘oh I see so behind the exit gate’ and they said, no on the bit by the ride.
 
Koxy said:
They walked over the carriage and to the platform on the other side of the carriage. I said to them ‘oh I see so behind the exit gate’ and they said, no on the bit by the ride.
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100%would not have happened. Many rides have the exit gate right by the platform, which I suppose could lead to a misunderstanding in the description they've given you. Also, that exit gate is often staffed, which might have given a false impression to your daughters that they were being looked after, as someone sort of stayed with them, just because someone stands in the same place.
 
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Koxy said:
They walked over the carriage and to the platform on the other side of the carriage. I said to them ‘oh I see so behind the exit gate’ and they said, no on the bit by the ride.
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I say you kids were left in safe hands. I wouldn't worry. Like I said in my previous post, your kids would of had a great day which would out weight any concerns that you may have.

It's very easy to try and score points in a divorce/separation, your kids will pick up on this and start to play one against the other which will do more harm to them than the actual things that you are trying to score points on or worrying about.

pluk said:
100%would not have happened. Many rides have the exit gate right by the platform, which I suppose could lead to a misunderstanding in the description they've given you. Also, that exit gate is often stagfst, which might have given a false impression to your daughters that they were being looked after, as someone sort of stayed with them.
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I agree, they would have been left behind some sort of barrier, more likely the exit, but obviously your kids don't want to cause upset. This is the point I'm trying to make about point scoring being more harmful to your children.
 
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