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Incident on The Smiler 02/06/2015

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He really has dealt with it well. I would understand if he didn't, but he "feels no anger towards Alton towers staff" makes him sound like a genuinely nice person. Especially after all these people who are "utterly disgraced with how the staff handled the octanauts being evacuated". And yes, in scared of needles to, so i understand where he is coming from
 
I've been once since the crash and didn't have much of a look in Towers Trading, however does anyone know if they've removed the "I survived [coaster name]" merch, like the trophies/medals? Seems a tad inappropriate.
 
DiogoJ42 said:
Even if it does turn out to be "human error", the system should never have allowed the human to make that error in the first place.
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You have to put rides in manual to clear block errors, it's not unusual to override the safety systems. There just needs to be good processes to make sure people are safe, if this was the cause then the question is did they have those or did staff just ignore them
 
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Just seen the interview. And he's right, he can't get angry until he knows what has happened. Good to see that it hasn't effected their relationship at all, and I hope they have a fast recovery, and fast rehabilitation.
 
James said:


Interview is on YouTube if anyone missed it.
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Thanks for the link James. I couldn't be bothered to get up this morning so was hoping there would be a video by this evening.

Last night I was expecting this to be an interview where everything would be blown out of proportion and sensationalized (maybe Schofield took it easy because he loved his ride on The Blackhole so much all those years back). However, I was surprised by how fair the interviewers were, and the lad Joe came across as a thoroughly decent young man. Wish him all the best for the future and full credit to This Morning for not doing a 'Burley'.
 
Glad Joe is dealing with it so well and that he's recovering.

Odd that Philip Schofield said "you were on a roller coaster so you'd shut your eyes" as though that was a fact. Surely people mostly keep their eyes open on roller coasters, I certainly do.
 
Pepper_Plant said:
Glad Joe is dealing with it so well and that he's recovering.

Odd that Philip Schofield said "you were on a roller coaster so you'd shut your eyes" as though that was a fact. Surely people mostly keep their eyes open on roller coasters, I certainly do.
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I was thinking the exact same
 
Just watched the interview, Joe spoke very impressively. Extremely level headed and mature, not making a big deal out of anything. I was concerned when I first heard he was going on national TV, thankfully those concerns were not needed. Nice to hear him so complementary of Towers since the incident as well.

Here's hoping he makes a good recovery, he seems a determined chap!

:)
 
This really shows how much the media blow things out of proportion. "Alton towers staff didn't care..." and then he tells us what they were really like.
 
Which half did it crash on was it before or after the vertical lift hill
 
Just don't get how they didn't notice the stalled train because he said they were stuck on the lift hill for 20 minutes
 
josht said:
Just don't get how they didn't notice the stalled train because he said they were stuck on the lift hill for 20 minutes
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We don't know why it was sent. They may have known it was there but sent it accidentally or the computer sent it
 
I tried watching the interview again using the youtube link, however it is saying the video has been taken down by user.
 
Like everyone else, I was shocked and upset to see the images of the Smiler accident and to hear of the injuries sustained.
I was also thinking that this accident should NEVER had happened. I was a controls engineer for many years, developing PLC control programs for all types of automated machines. The Smiler no doubt has a failsafe PLC system at the heart of the control? I've never designed a system for a fairground ride before but one of the fundamental control statements for this type of system must be "know where the carriages are at all times". This would be followed by "if a carriage is not accounted for, bring the ride to a controlled stop". It beggars belief that the carriage that was stopped was not known about by the system and similarly, the system allowed the release of the carriage that ran into it!!
Failsafe PLC's are constantly self checking in milli second periods and any fault should trigger a controlled system stop. This smacks of a system that was priced to win the contract, as is common practice these days. I bet whoever won the contract is wishing they did the job properly now.
The team or individual responsible for this control system should be a) quaking in their boots, regarding an impending court case. b) Looking for a career change..... you're a danger to innocent people.
 
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