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Drayton Manor Park - Splash Canyon Incident

Wonder if Bubbleworks/Gruffalo has had similar investment in staff/bigger CCTV screens too...

Was there no a staff member on offload they could've raised the alarm to? Unless it was the teacher/bystander who spoke to the photo shop... Though the time frame of falling out to getting to the station could have easily been enough for her to fall in...
 
Alsty said:
Even if there's no criminal proceedings, there could still be a claim in the civil courts.
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Think because she was misbehaving so badly and ignoring signs a civil case family would be unlikely to be successful (would be the equivalent of shaking a take out cup of hot coffee with "warning hot" written on it and trying to sue for getting burnt when the top comes off) however the HSE case is a different story..
 
Alsty said:
From here:

Depending on the nature of the investigation or prosecution, cover may be available under directors’ and officers’ liability, professional indemnity or trustee liability insurance.

...

Such cover will typically provide indemnity for the costs incurred in defending or challenging claims or findings made against the company or its officers, but will usually not cover fines or penalties which might be imposed as a result of a prosecution or regulatory proceedings. Criminal fines and penalties can never be indemnified by an insurance policy and civil fines and penalties are often expressly excluded by the policy terms, or cover prohibited by the relevant regulator.
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Correct :)

Gosh I never thought my job would cross over onto a theme park forum...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
How it works...
The police decide if a clear serious crime has occurred (e.g. murder), if it has, they discuss with CPS and HSE, then prosecute.
If it is not a clear, serious crime, then it is passed to the HSE to decide, with the CPS, what action to take.
This is where we are now, mid inquest.
The police handed over to HSE a few weeks ago.
This will clearly result in a court case, without doubt.
The details of the Inquest will be used for evidence, and sentence, in the criminal court.
Which could still take a couple of years.
Without any doubt, Drayton are liable in criminal and civil courts.
Edit...
My customer yesterday morning is a retired HSE boss.
 
"cameras were placed to monitor ‘hot spot’ areas of the ride and that any issues not caught on camera could be raised by staff or park visitors."
 
RoyJess said:
Some key points today

No Water rescue aids are to hand at the ride
Only 50% of the ride is covered by CCTV
The Health and Safety Executive reviewed CCTV footage of the ride on the day of the incident and spotted numerous instances of members of the public misbehaving on the ride without the operator noticing or warning them

Live updates continue here today

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/leicester-news/live-updates-inquest-death-leicester-3498525
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Oh dear this is sounding worse for the park by the day. The ops yesterday were also saying the viewing screens for CCTV were not adequate and there were not enough staff as the op had to monitor CCTV and the station simultaneously...,.
 
The teacher, who had witnessed Evha falling in had shouted to her, telling her to remain where she was. Evha presumably either didn't hear the teacher, or ignored them, and climbed onto the lift.

A member of the public tried to climb over the barrier to try and get to her, but was unable to.

Given that a teacher, member of the public and the kids on the boat knew she had fallen off, it seems incredible it took 11 minutes to start the search.

The kids say they immediately told station staff.
 
Lurker said:
The teacher, who had witnessed Evha falling in had shouted to her, telling her to remain where she was. Evha presumably either didn't hear the teacher, or ignored them, and climbed onto the lift.

A member of the public tried to climb over the barrier to try and get to her, but was unable to.

Given that a teacher, member of the public and the kids on the boat knew she had fallen off, it seems incredible it took 11 minutes to start the search.

The kids say they immediately told station staff.
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Interestingly it also sounds from a lot of the reports that the freinds on the raft were very calm and didnt sound at all emotional that she had fallen in...
 
DiogoJ42 said:
That she fell in? Yes. The park's response was clearly a fault, of course. But if she hadn't been doing what she did in the first place....
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This is the tragic truth. Kids are always gonna mess around tbf, it's just a very unfortunate situation.

I feel for the young ride staff who were working that day, it must have been pretty traumatic. And now they've got to go through it all again in court.

Tbh I'm surprised these type of rapids have been in operation without gates for so long. We've all witnessed people standing up and moving around. I've seen a bloke at towers jump out onto the side, run along the grass verge, and jump back in. They're not dangerous rides, but people can't be trusted.
 
I see a bit of victim blaming in this thread.

Allow me to quote from the sentencing guidelines:
Actions of victims are unlikely to be considered contributory events for sentencing purposes. Offenders are required to protect workers or others who may be neglectful of their own safety in a way which is reasonably foreseeable.
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Drayton Manor have a duty of care to look after their employees and non-employees, and this is especially so when those are vulnerable groups such as children.

We can argue till we're blue in the face about how if Evha hadn't been messing about then it wouldn't have happened but it is actually irrelevant. Drayton Manor are responsible in law for looking after their guests and taking reasonable precautions to safeguard them. It is entirely foreseeable that somebody could fall out of the boat and there should be adequate processes in place to deal with that.
 
Doublethink said:
Interestingly it also sounds from a lot of the reports that the freinds on the raft were very calm and didnt sound at all emotional that she had fallen in...
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Most adults don't understand the dangers of water (even shallow), doubt kids will be much better...

Probably thought it was funny rather than a serious problem...
 
Seeing today inquest, I've sort of change my mind on this.

Yes the kids did mess around, yes they didn't follow the rules, yes they did hang over the side of the boat, so was clearly at fault.

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However, why didn't the staff spotted the kids messing around (and it appears there were other kids too) and announce them to sit down or eject them from the park if not obeying the rules. Not just kids, but adults alike will be more incline to copy other people if they see them doing things and getting away with it. It's always a case of monkey see, monkey do...

There is no excuse for a ride of this type not to have full CCTV coverage, only 50% coverage is very poor.

And finally to have no water rescue aids to hand is certainly non excusable, even our local pond has a life buoy to hand. Not just for the safety of the guest, but also just in-case one of the workers ever falls in.

Would any of the above help saved the child's life? Regardless whether they would have or not, these requirements should have been the bare minimum available.
 
Alsty said:
I see a bit of victim blaming in this thread.

Allow me to quote from the sentencing guidelines:

Drayton Manor have a duty of care to look after their employees and non-employees, and this is especially so when those are vulnerable groups such as children.

We can argue till we're blue in the face about how if Evha hadn't been messing about then it wouldn't have happened but it is actually irrelevant. Drayton Manor are responsible in law for looking after their guests and taking reasonable precautions to safeguard them. It is entirely foreseeable that somebody could fall out of the boat and there should be adequate processes in place to deal with that.
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I do agree with you, I've always seen rapids rides as an accident waiting to happen. And DM have made some big mistakes.

But let's not forget millions of people have been on rapids and not fallen in.
 
RoyJess said:
Seeing today inquest, I've sort of change my mind on this.

Yes the kids did mess around, yes they didn't follow the rules, yes they did hang over the side of the boat, so was clearly at fault.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

However, why didn't the staff spotted the kids messing around (and it appears there were other kids too) and announce them to sit down or eject them from the park if not obeying the rules. Not just kids, but adults alike will be more incline to copy other people if they see them doing things and getting away with it. It's always a case of monkey see, monkey do...

There is no excuse for a ride of this type not to have full CCTV coverage, only 50% coverage is very poor.

And finally to have no water rescue aids to hand is certainly non excusable, even our local pond has a life buoy to hand. Not just for the safety of the guest, but also just in-case one of the workers ever falls in.

Would any of the above help saved the child's life? Regardless whether they would have or not, these requirements should have been the bare minimum available.
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Yep this is my opinion on the situation. Was it her fault she fell out? 100% Would she have died if she was told to sit down over the tannoy or was propper CCTV coverage and rescue equipment. Possibly, possibly not .

The possibility that she would have survived if adequate safety precautions were in place is why HSE are prosecuting the park.
 
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