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Incident on The Smiler 02/06/2015

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I know it's not pleasant to speak about, but do you think there could be any consequences for the individual/s involved? Some sort of charge for negligence of some sort? Not following protocol?
 
BarryZola said:
I know it's not pleasant to speak about, but do you think there could be any consequences for the individual/s involved? Some sort of charge for negligence of some sort? Not following protocol?
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It's perfectly possible. It depends whether the blame legally rests with the company or the individual?
 
An Alton Towers spokesperson has told the BBC that they have followed "standard HR procedures and taken the appropriate action" in regards to the staff involved and that "the outcome of this however remains a private matter between us and any individual concerned."

:)
 
Still, you'd have thought the system would have realised there was a train unaccounted for and flagged this up, if not preventing the override then at least alerting the operators to it so they could check? Or did it and was this just ignored?
 
Doggo2805 said:
Has Alton Towers confirmed if the person/persons responsible are NO longer employees of the company?
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See what Rob previously posted -
Rob said:
An Alton Towers spokesperson has told the BBC that they have followed "standard HR procedures and taken the appropriate action" in regards to the staff involved and that "the outcome of this however remains a private matter between us and any individual concerned."

:)
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Martin said:
Still, you'd have thought the system would have realised there was a train unaccounted for and flagged this up, if not preventing the override then at least alerting the operators to it so they could check? Or did it and was this just ignored?
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I think that is what the human error was, the ride was saying there was a train in the wrong block and someone over-rode / ignored it.
 
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I'm a long time lurker and a little bit gutted that my first post is regarding the Smiler crash, although I came to close to having a rant at Kay Burley a few times, I managed to resist. Regarding the reply from AT, surely now something has to be done regarding the stalling in the batwing. As the statement mentions there was nothing wrong with the ride but the fact that it stalled set up the tech operator error. I just wonder if they will make changes to lower the chances of it stalling or if we could see the Smiler closed often in windy weather.

On a positive note I feel happier about renewing my MAP. IF they do a U-turn on Hex as well I don't think it will quite be the doom and gloom it was from the weekend.
 
Robert Jones said:
I'm a long time lurker and a little bit gutted that my first post is regarding the Smiler crash, although I came to close to having a rant at Kay Burley a few times, I managed to resist. Regarding the reply from AT, surely now something has to be done regarding the stalling in the batwing. As the statement mentions there was nothing wrong with the ride but the fact that it stalled set up the tech operator error. I just wonder if they will make changes to lower the chances of it stalling or if we could see the Smiler closed often in windy weather.

On a positive note I feel happier about renewing my MAP. IF they do a U-turn on Hex as well I don't think it will quite be the doom and gloom it was from the weekend.
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First of all, welcome to the forum - I hope it's your first post of many!

We noticed anemometers (to measure wind speed) being installed on The Smiler's station building and at the top of lift 1 towards the end of last season, so I would imagine they may well close it in high winds going forward.

:)
 
For Smiler opening next year, for once there is just a glimmer of good news for 2016...God it feels like ages when I read something positive on these forums!
 
Robert Jones said:
I'm a long time lurker and a little bit gutted that my first post is regarding the Smiler crash, although I came to close to having a rant at Kay Burley a few times, I managed to resist. Regarding the reply from AT, surely now something has to be done regarding the stalling in the batwing. As the statement mentions there was nothing wrong with the ride but the fact that it stalled set up the tech operator error. I just wonder if they will make changes to lower the chances of it stalling or if we could see the Smiler closed often in windy weather.

On a positive note I feel happier about renewing my MAP. IF they do a U-turn on Hex as well I don't think it will quite be the doom and gloom it was from the weekend.
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They have also added a control panel in the fence near where the stall occurred, it appears that to restart the ride, they will need to manually walk around and push buttons to visually confirm it is safe to reset.
 
Any thoughts on when it will open? Start of the season? Couple of weeks in? Random day?

I'm happy that this statement has come out. Majority of posts regarding it on facebook are positive. Can't wait to be back.
 
Rob said:
First of all, welcome to the forum - I hope it's your first post of many!

We noticed anemometers (to measure wind speed) being installed on The Smiler's station building and at the top of lift 1 towards the end of last season, so I would imagine they may well close it in high winds going forward.

:)
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Thanks Rob!

Let's hope AT can get a good baseline from some decent winter testing. If they are constantly too cautious in opening it, the GP and especially the press will likely see this a lack of confidence with the ride rather than precaution.

jon81uk said:
They have also added a control panel in the fence near where the stall occurred, it appears that to restart the ride, they will need to manually walk around and push buttons to visually confirm it is safe to reset.
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Ah cheers Jon, I missed this whilst peering through the fence but definitely interesting to note, hopefully it never gets used.
 
Hopefully hex is a mistake in the information leak. Think it will be open from the beginning in a let's not make too much of it kind of way. This is a good move by merlin, get the bad news out of the way early in the closed season. #prayforhex
 
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ATOL and/or merlin have handed this in a great way. And the latest move of releasing the information now, give the closed season for it to go quiet.
 
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