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Drayton Manor Park - Splash Canyon Incident

I think they've said it'll not reopen in its current form, and they won't reopen it without HSE agreement. That might indicate an intention to reopen, but does not necessarily mean it will...
 
Themeparksandy1981 said:
Well the family of Evha has given a statement. They blame the park for not keeping a eye on visitors on the CCTV and for not having safety items and training. They also blame the school for not travelling with the girls on the ride.
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Welcome to the 2019 where people will always blame someone else when its actually themselves which are to blame. Hence why all the H&S and fences all around Alton, hence why no waterfalls on the rapids, hence why safety gates fitted to the boats. Always amazes me why some people are so unable to obey rules anymore, you could have giant yellow signs every metre down the ride saying "for God sake dont stand up" and some muppet will still stand up, injure themselves and then try and blame the park.
 
GaryH said:
Welcome to the 2019 where people will always blame someone else when its actually themselves which are to blame. Hence why all the H&S and fences all around Alton, hence why no waterfalls on the rapids, hence why safety gates fitted to the boats. Always amazes me why some people are so unable to obey rules anymore, you could have giant yellow signs every metre down the ride saying "for God sake dont stand up" and some muppet will still stand up, injure themselves and then try and blame the park.
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Easier to blame someone else than own up to it being your fault. I'm also surprised the relatives have not tried to sue the park for negligence
 
That will be after the criminal case has been completed.
They have a right to sue as well, if the park had proper procedures in place, and life saving equipment to hand, their child would not be dead.
It is one thing to be young and foolish, and falling in as a result.
But leaving the child in the water for nine minutes...
 
rob666 said:
That will be after the criminal case has been completed.
They have a right to sue as well, if the park had proper procedures in place, and life saving equipment to hand, their child would not be dead.
It is one thing to be young and foolish, and falling in as a result.
But leaving the child in the water for nine minutes...
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Agreed that the HSE fine will be well deserved by the park as there were clear failings. Not sure how likely the family is to win compensation though- would compare it to trying to sue McDonalds for burns as the lid came off when you were violently shaking a cup of take away coffee
 
rob666 said:
That will be after the criminal case has been completed.
They have a right to sue as well, if the park had proper procedures in place, and life saving equipment to hand, their child would not be dead.
It is one thing to be young and foolish, and falling in as a result.
But leaving the child in the water for nine minutes...
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She'd have had a better chance I think it's fair to say but to say categorically she wouldn't have lost her life is pure speculation. Tragic accidents can happen even when all equipment is to hand etc. Ultimately if someone falls in who can't swim they are in a whole world of trouble.
 
GaryH said:
If she had obeyed the rules like everyone else she would not be dead, end of.
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I think whilst there's some truth to that it's definitely not as black and white as that. I'm sure we've all broke rules at times in our lives that have put us in some kind of danger. I know I have when I was younger. It's called being naive and young. We learn from it.

Clearly the park weren't properly prepared for such an incident. Woefully under prepared it would seem. Blame on both parties for sure.
 
GaryH said:
If she had obeyed the rules like everyone else she would not be dead, end of.
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The corner where she fell out of is a hard hitting corner and has thrown many people out their seat even when sitting down and holding on. It is not as clear cut and black and white as you say.
 
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GaryH said:
If she had obeyed the rules like everyone else she would not be dead, end of.
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Really? Have you never broken a rule in your life?

You are suggesting that in any accident, only the one person who made the mistake is at fault and nobody else shares in the culpability. That's not true.

For example, if you are driving and somebody steps out in front of you and you hit them, you are still liable if you were travelling too fast, were not paying attention or if you fail to help the injured person afterwards. You don't just say "they should have looked".
 
To an extent, yes. But is it fair to assume, especially for a child, that standing up on a Rapids ride could lead to death? Especially when signs/annoucements do not make this clear? Alton Towers have danger of death signs all over the place for this reason, Drayton did not.
 
Alsty said:
Really? Have you never broken a rule in your life?
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Depends. If its a rule in a theme park where doing an action could result in my injury or death, then no. So, if someone climbs over a fence in Alton Towers, ignores the "Danger of Death" signs and gets killed, does that mean the park is still at fault? Its about time people took responsibility for their own actions.
 
As it's possible to end up in the water without breaking rules (although unlikely) then I do think it's essential to have high quality CCTV and floatation devices.

As it had happened before, I would expect these precautions to be made.

Evha should not have stood up.
Drayton Manor should not have been so neglectful of the basic safety features that could've been implemented.

If DM had done everything they could have (listened to operators about CCTV, for example) then perhaps the only person to blame would be the customer ignoring the rules. This is clearly not the case. Therefore the blame lies with DM.
 
GaryH said:
So, if someone climbs over a fence in Alton Towers, ignores the "Danger of Death" signs and gets killed, does that mean the park is still at fault?
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But if there was no fence or signs, would that change your viewpoint?
 
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