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Incident on The Smiler 02/06/2015

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Firstly, thanks to those who have been on park recently and have got pics or videos of the ride running, this is great to see.

I can kind of understand why they don't want to go public on a date for it to re-open at this stage. The park has had a very bad year, and if they say the ride will open in two weeks, the next two week are likely to be even quieter, as most people would rather visit when the Smiler is open, which I am sure is the reason this year has been so bad for them, it has little to do with people not trusting the park or any other such rubbish the rags want you to believe.

Then you have to factor in, if the ride for whatever reason fails to open on the date the advertise, you risk a publicity disaster.

Ash
 
I dread to think of what the ques will be like when the Smiler reopens if everyone is holding off their visit until it actually reopens :eek::mad:
 
I would expect it to be very busy!

All this talk of people boycotting for safety reasons is a load of who shot John, when the Big One crashed in 94 (I am picking this incident as a likeness as that was the big new ride at the time, much like the Smiler is today at Towers) it re-opened to 2hour + queues almost daily.

People will not be put off, the media just like to create drama. Once the news gets around its open it will be chaos in X-Sector.

Ash
 
I must admit I've been enjoying the Towers being very quiet, I've been fitting in plenty of rides :D

I just feel for the Towers itself and I personally don't want to see it go down hill.

Having the Smiler open for the fright nights, oops! I mean scarefest ;) Riding it in the dark again will be awesome. :)
 
Ash84 said:
I would expect it to be very busy!

All this talk of people boycotting for safety reasons is a load of who shot John, when the Big One crashed in 94 (I am picking this incident as a likeness as that was the big new ride at the time, much like the Smiler is today at Towers) it re-opened to 2hour + queues almost daily.

People will not be put off, the media just like to create drama. Once the news gets around its open it will be chaos in X-Sector.

Ash
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When the big one crashed though, it was before Facebook or Twitter. people didnt hear all the exadurated media. People will be put off, even if we won't. It will always be "that one that crashed", people will always think twice before riding.
 
This of course could all be part of the master marketing plan, building the hype for an opening day announcement.


I did ask if they could use me as a test dummy, after all im 70% water!
Was told no :(
 
Leah said:
When the big one crashed though, it was before Facebook or Twitter. people didnt hear all the exadurated media. People will be put off, even if we won't. It will always be "that one that crashed", people will always think twice before riding.
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I think you are selling the public short here. From reading the parks facebook page and speaking to people at work, (I am well known by staff and customers for being a coaster nut) I'd say for every one drama queen who thinks the ride is a death trap, ten people think they are over reacting, and the majority will go back on. Believe me, even back then the media were playing the same games, I remember a report (from the good old Mirror) saying the Big One crashed 500ft in the air and people were trapped above a lake! People can see through these lies.

Ash
 
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I agree, most people will know the statistics and the reality; that this was a very very rare accident and that it categorically will not happen again. It must only be a small percentage of people that actually get put off after being ill informed and spoon fed utter crap.
 
I'd be surprised if it was still under HSE notice. I think if it's not open before end of September then this year it will not be at all IMO

Anyone know how quick big one was reopened after? I know space invader opened quite quickly but I know that was not ride issue as such
 
I think it is entirely possible it is still under notice. I think it's possible the notice will only be lifted when the ride is ready to reopen.

They will possibly want to be satisfied with the changes made, and a large part of this will likely be around staff training procedures.

So I think it's possible the ride is getting ready to open, but the notice will stay in place until it is ready.
 
IMO the removal of the HSE notice will be the last step of reopening the ride as the all the necessarily safeguards needs to be put in place (hence the current testing and work being carried out on it). This is another reason why Alton can't say whether it will be reopening this season or not subject to the removal of the HSE notice.

But I'm sure that they are working towards getting it removed soon as possible.
 
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"Alton Towers has also repeatedly stated that no decision over the ride’s future had yet been taken."
It's been testing. I think it will open.
 
I would imagine that the manufacturer of the ride would have been brought in to help fix the issues on the ride. They would have ran the numbers through their CAD set up of the ride worked out what is needed to iron out issues with the stalling and looking at if it was feasible to make any changes etc. It is likely the HSE will want to see what work has been done to stop this happening again they may even simulate a stall. I truly believe they will leave no stone unturned and will want to make sure the ride is 110% before it opens, if that means it takes till next season then so be it but I think we are looking at the middle stages of a 2 to 3 week reopening program. Does anyone know if there has been any more work carried out in the last couple of days or has it just been cars going round?
 
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Leah said:
"Alton Towers has also repeatedly stated that no decision over the ride’s future had yet been taken."
It's been testing. I think it will open.
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No decision has been made because the final decision will be by health and safety if they pass it off to be re-opened. It doesn't mean that Alton Towers don't have a date that they are working towards, they know when it will be ready to open but the decision ultimately rests with H&S whether they are allowed to open it then.
 
Ash84 said:
That I don't believe. I am lead to believe the ride is being used to train staff at the moment.
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If the cause of the crash was indeed human error, those two things go hand in hand. The prohibition notice would be lifted when the park has sufficiently proven to the HSE that the new training combined with changes to the PLC mean that the incident in June cannot reoccur.

Leah said:
Have the other three infinity coasters had these new safety features added?
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I don't think it's been made public if they have.
 
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