'High Profile' Enthusiasts: A discussion

[Alsty]

Because of the smiler.

Does that make it reactionary and done only to satisfy the media? "We must be seen to be doing something!"

 

[imanautie]

Does that make it reactionary and done only to satisfy the media? "We must be seen to be doing something!"

Possibly, but if something similar to the Drayton manor incident happened at towers press would kill towers.

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[Burbs]

And that's why we end up in the ridiculous position of not allowing guests to wait in the monorail station for the train, and why all fences now have to be about 5' high. Where does sensible risk reduction end? If anybody leant out of a rapids boat and was injured, why would anybody consider the park as even remotely culpable?

Every possible risk needs to be taken into account, the likelihood and severity assessed and then control measures putting in place to reduce each individual risk. It's in order to reduce any fines/sentences that would come Towers/Merlin's way, should anything occur, as much as it is to protect people within the park. All of this, however, is as far as reasonably practical. If the risk was to do with people falling out of a raft, you could easily just say shut the ride, but this isn't reasonably possible, so a way to reduce this would be to ban the use of phones/cameras on the ride.

 

[RicketyCricket]

Its like bloggers who fly drones all over again!!! Im not happy with either side but Shaun has a responsibility to act within the rules and to set an example. Hes making alot of money from his channel. Pushing the boundaries is not right in my eyes, hes setting a bad example for others. Towers reaponce was ott but personally if your making £1000s from a you tube channel it should be 100% within the rules and ethical. If i had a tv production filming there then id be expected to follow the rules or face fines. Hes no different. I would have expected more from him, and his responce has made me question his channel.

That’s fair enough but it was just a selfie on the rapids. It’s not like he’s juggling chainsaws on the back row of Nemesis.

Let’s give him the benefit of the doubt here, the rules were/aren’t very clear and I’m sure he’s learned from the mistake.

Someone mentioned jealousy a couple of pages back... I’m pretty sure no one would have cared if this was done by a YouTube channel with a few hundred subscribers (which has happened many times before).

 

[monkeyboy]

That’s fair enough but it was just a selfie on the rapids. It’s not like he’s juggling chainsaws on the back row of Nemesis.

Yes agreed please wait for scarefest

 

[SuperMuscleMan]

That’s fair enough but it was just a selfie on the rapids. It’s not like he’s juggling chainsaws on the back row of Nemesis.

Let’s give him the benefit of the doubt here, the rules were/aren’t very clear and I’m sure he’s learned from the mistake.

Someone mentioned jealousy a couple of pages back... I’m pretty sure no one would have cared if this was done by a YouTube channel with a few hundred subscribers (which has happened many times before).

Im not going into the minutia detail but ill disagree with you. Hes making money from his channel. Those with a few 100 are not. Hes there to set an example and his response was not what id expect from an adult that wants to provide a professional service.

 

[Dave]

Many YouTube “personalities” get more oxygen of publicity than they deserve and Shaun is no exception but this all seems a bit OTT.

 

[speedy]

I don't think anyone has mentioned his job yet so as someone who's never watched Theme Parks Worldwide here's my opinion.

I don't think filming on the rapids is a big issue personally. But Shawn has come across as immature and naive for assuming he is allowed, IMO. This guy works for Alton Towers right? In that case he should know all the rules. He's risking his job with how he's behaving.

Alton Towers have to be serious about safety in light of recent events. If I worked for Towers I certainly wouldn't be speaking to their public social media like that

 

[Bert2theSpark]

This guy works for Alton Towers right?

He got fired for slagging off the park, Supposedly.

 

[RoyJess]

So taking photos on the Mono rail is also forbidden?

At the end of the day, if you are not allowed to take pictures, videos or mobile phones onto the ride, then have this displayed

He got fired for slagging off the park, Supposedly.

I heard different, but then I try not to listen to Chinese whispers

Depends on the circumstances, there is a big difference between right, wrong and illegal, it's a myth that a person has the right to privacy outside of their home, you would be surprised just how lax the laws are surrounding photography are (there is no law to stop someone taking a photo of you or your wife or even your child, however if they do, and you ask them to stop and they don't, then their continuation of taking photos of you falls under harassment law, but the actual act of taking your photo without your permission is not illegal in places where no reasonable expectation of privacy can be applied).

Alton is technically private property but because of its nature and accessibility of the general public, you cannot claim to have any reasonable expectation of privacy at Alton unless you rented the place exclusively. Alton's terms and conditions are about as effective as a chocolate fire guard in a legal sense related to you, they simply cover themselves from being sued.

Any one can take a photo in public of you and post it on line and there is nothing you can do about it. However if you are standing on private land or if you have paid to get into an attraction, then the attraction owners can put in filming restrictions. This is why theatre and cinemas have the right to say not filming allowed.

 

[speedy]

He got fired for slagging off the park, Supposedly.

Oh.

Regardless I feel his photo and tweets are rather immature considering how many subscribers he has.

So taking photos on the Mono rail is also forbidden?

At the end of the day, if you are not allowed to take pictures, videos or mobile phones onto the ride, then have this displayed

I heard different, but then I try not to listen to Chinese whispers

While its a good point, IMO an enclosed transport ride is not comparable to a rapids ride. While the camera itself isn't bad, I can imagine people standing up, because they dropped their camera, or need a different angle or something. Obviously that could be dangerous. The park can't be turning a blind eye after what happened at Drayton Manor.

 

[IanSR]

This is why theatre and cinemas have the right to say not filming allowed.

That is copyright related, not personal privacy, but yeah I get what you're saying.

 

[TheAverageNerd]

Let's not go spreading things around about the mans work life that have no real relevance to the topic at hand, seems a bit inappropriate.

The park definitely needs to improve its signage if it wants to avoid awkward situations like this in my opinion. I would assume that another problem with the park and its relationship with popular enthusiasts is the connections between said enthusiasts and ride operators. Many of these people have worked on park before and know many of the current ride operators which may cause them to be a bit less strict when it comes to taking cameras on ride. Obviously I'm completely speculating but it seems plausible.

 

[ChristmasPud]

Why people feel the need to film themsevles on board rides anyway I have no idea. Turn off your camera and have fun on the ride, don't try to broadcast yourself.

 

[imanautie]

Let's not go spreading things around about the mans work life that have no real relevance to the topic at hand, seems a bit inappropriate.

The park definitely needs to improve its signage if it wants to avoid awkward situations like this in my opinion. I would assume that another problem with the park and its relationship with popular enthusiasts is the connections between said enthusiasts and ride operators. Many of these people have worked on park before and know many of the current ride operators which may cause them to be a bit less strict when it comes to taking cameras on ride. Obviously I'm completely speculating but it seems plausible.

How the park handles high profile staff when stuff gets said is very relevant.

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[IanSR]

The park haven't helped themselves by openly providing official press photos of real celebrities sat on Wickerman GoPro in hand mid-ride.

 

[TheAverageNerd]

How the park handles high profile staff when stuff gets said is very relevant.

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This thread is about enthusiasts and their behavior, not Alton Towers employees and the reasons for their departure from the company.

 

[ringo]

How the park handles high profile staff when stuff gets said is very relevant.

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For a different thread yes, we’ve seen before the discussion of why he no longer works at Towers results in threads getting locked

 

[IanSR]

Why people feel the need to film themsevles on board rides anyway I have no idea.

For that once in a lifetime never to be repeated reaction to their first ride, or just to show off like an attention whore, take your pick.

 

[pj]

He got fired for slagging off the park, Supposedly.

Don’t think they would have invited him to the media evening for Wickerman if that was the case


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