• ℹ️ Heads up...

    This is a popular topic that is fast moving Guest - before posting, please ensure that you check out the first post in the topic for a quick reminder of guidelines, and importantly a summary of the known facts and information so far. Thanks.

Incident on The Smiler 02/06/2015

Status
This topic has been locked. No further replies can be posted.
JaJaWa said:
Surely one of the reasons the park is closed is to change the branding (e.g. Big Six Challenge) around the park before it reopens.
Click to expand...

Whilst the park being closed enables them to do this. I don't think it's one of the reasons why the park is still closed. For all we know it could have all been removed by now.
 
With regards the response times, firstly, I dont think AT staff themselves appreciated the severity of the injuries at first. Their first responders were there in minutes, who then called 999 after realising how serious the situation was. They told the ambulance service that people were trapped in the cars.

The ambulance service didn't call the fire service for over half an hour, which they have admitted, was error on their part, not Alton Tower's.
 
I would hope they will be aiming open again by the weekend. And presumably there will be many members of this forum there to either show support for the park, or try to sniff out any further info.
 
Kelpie said:
Do remove if appropriate. A few bits and bobs that have come from the Press Association & others that have been sent to media outlets today.

------
ALTON TOWERS TO REMAIN CLOSED
By Press Association Reporters

Alton Towers will stay closed again tomorrow as it racks up losses potentially worth millions of pounds following a horrific rollercoaster crash.
Sixteen people were injured, four seriously, when two carriages on the Smiler ride collided at the Staffordshire theme park.
The resort was shut to the public following the "major incident" at around 2pm on Tuesday.
Merlin Entertainments, which runs the resort, is believed to have lost just under #1.5 million in the three days since the collision - around #500,000 a day.
An Alton Towers spokeswoman confirmed a decision had been taken to keep the park closed tomorrow as Health and Saftey Executive (HSE) remain on site.
He added: "Anybody with pre-booked tickets for Alton Towers tomorrow will be able to visit Thorpe Park, Chessington World of Adventures, Warwick Castle or Legoland Windsor as an alternative."
Meanwhile, a man and a woman who were seriously injured in the incident have been named as Daniel Thorpe, a 27-year-old hotel assistant manager from Buxton in Derbyshire, and Vicky Balch, 19, from Leyland in Lancashire.
Mr Thorpe, who is thought to be recovering at University Hospital Coventry, works at the Izaak Walton Hotel near Ashbourne, Derbyshire.
He had previously worked at the Bentley Brook Inn in Fenny Bentley.
Landlady Wendy Livingstone said: "He worked here two years ago. He was liked by the customers and staff and enjoyed sport. Of course it has been a shock to us."
Textile design student Joe Pugh, 18, and his girlfriend Leah Washington, 17, were also seriously hurt in the crash.
Mr Pugh tweeted that he had been "overwhelmed" by the support people had shown since the accident.
He said: "So overwhelmed with the response I've had from my accident at Alton Towers. Thank you for everyone's concern."
Ms Washington is said to have been given a blood transfusion and morphine before she passed out following the collision.
Witnesses said the ride had experienced technical difficulties earlier in the day, with some claiming that the empty cart involved in the crash had been on a test run when it came to stop.
Neil Craig, head of operations for HSE in the Midlands, said that a specialist team of inspectors were at the scene in Staffordshire making inquiries.
He added: "Our role is to establish the facts. We will want to determine that those responsible for operating this ride have done what the law requires. We will also ensure that if there are any lessons to be learned, they are shared as
soon as possible.
"Although the investigation is in its early stages, we will take action to protect the public if we uncover evidence that could affect the safety of other rides at the park or elsewhere."
Nick Varney, chief executive of Merlin Entertainments, said the park could reopen only when the investigation had concluded but did not give a time-frame.
Writing in the Sun, he said: "At this point, I don't know if it was a technological or a human error. We want to know if this issue is isolated to The Smiler. We can't open again until we're sure."
Among those on board was Vanisha Singh, 29, who was in the second row of the carriage with her mother Chanda, 49, and her sister Meera, 26.
She told the Sun there had been "technical difficulties" moments before they embarked on the ride, as several test cars were sent ahead of them.
"We finally went up and were kept at the top for 10 or 15 minutes chatting, joking that we were the guinea pigs," she said.
Describing the crash, she added: "The metal safety bar smashed into our legs. There was loads of screaming. I felt a burning sensation in my pelvis, and back and neck pain.
"It was terrifying. There was blood all over the floor because it was pouring out of their legs in the carriage and dropping down. The doctors and firemen were covered in blood as they scaled the scaffolding to treat the guys on the
front row."
The four people who suffered critical injuries were airlifted to major trauma centres after the 16 occupants were rescued from 25ft in the air at an angle of about 45 degrees.
Some of the occupants suffered an ordeal which lasted more than four hours, with the evacuation not complete until 6.35pm.
Since opening two years ago, the #18 million rollercoaster, which boasts a world-record 14 loops, has been closed twice because of safety concerns.

------

FROM ALTON TOWERS:

Following The Smiler incident on 2nd June, Alton Towers will stay closed on Friday 5th June.

The Health and Safety Executive remain on site and Alton Towers is co-operating fully with their investigation. We also continue to communicate with the families of all those involved.

Anybody with pre-booked tickets for Alton Towers tomorrow will be able to visit Thorpe Park, Chessington World of Adventures, Warwick Castle or Legoland Windsor as an alternative.

------

Alton Towers have confirmed that bosses were informed of the accident at 1357hrs on Tuesday. However the 999 call was not made until 1408hrs when the ambulance service was requested - 11 minutes after the crash.

Response timings:
A first responder based at Alton Towers was first on the scene at 1409hrs
The West Midlands Ambulance service were mobilised by 1411hrs
Ambulance service arrived at 1435


The West Midlands Ambulance Service called the Fire Service at 1441hrs. Alton Towers staff had not requested the fire service during their first 999 call at 1408hrs.
Alton Towers staff then called the fire service themselves at 1445hrs.

Alton Towers staff say they built a platform to reach the injured people. They will not confirm how long it took them to build the platform.


Response from Alton Towers:
Our community first responders, based on site at Alton Towers, are trained by West Midlands Ambulance Service and form part of our security and medical teams. Once the incident occurred, a member of the ride staff would have called our first responders who arrived at the scene within minutes. After instant assessment they call our security department who then call 999 straight away.

Also due to the location of the incident on the ride it was necessary to build a platform in order to begin evacuation. Alton Towers staff began construction immediately which enabled the emergency services to reach those involved as soon as they arrived at the scene


-----

Press Association City Staff

The owner of Alton Towers is estimated to have racked up just under £1.5 million in lost revenue over the three days since a rollercoaster crash left 16 people injured.
Analysts estimate every day the 500-acre theme park in Staffordshire remains closed costs parent group Merlin Entertainments a little under £500,000.
Alton Towers, which also has two hotels, is understood to have generated around £110 million of revenues last year for the group.
Shares in Merlin have fallen just over 2.6% since the accident happened on Tuesday, wiping around £100 million off its stock market value.
Merlin is one of the biggest leisure and attraction groups in the world, and in the UK it owns Madame Tussauds, Legoland Parks, Thorpe Park, London Eye and Warwick Castle.
In total the business runs 100 attractions in 22 countries, including Japan, Dubai, Italy and Germany.
The group floated on the stock market in 2013 and has a market valuation of £4.5 billion.
However, Panmure Gordon analyst Anna Barnfather said the incident has come at a crucial time for the theme park, at the start of its busy summer season.
She said June accounts for around 10% of the theme park's annual revenues, while the key months of July and August make up a combined 35% of sales across the year.
Ms Barnfather added: "The concern is that this accident will have a knock-on effect in terms of fewer people coming to the park at the height of the summer season."
Brokers add that the group's other UK attractions such as Legoland and Chessington may also see a drop off in visitor numbers.
But Ms Barnfather added: "The effect may be minimal. This is because parks like Chessington are more family-based and have fewer thrill-seeking rides than Alton Towers, which has a younger profile."
Analysts said another effect may be longer lead times and more testing before Merlin launches new rides such as The Smiler, which cost £18 million and opened in May 2013.
The group, and The Smiler's German manufacturer Gerstlauer, could pay further costs in subsequent years if fines and penalties may be liable.
But Ms Barnfather said she believed that the theme park's reputation has not been damaged beyond repair.
She said: "Alton Towers will have a bad year this year, but the history of these sorts of incidents show that after a period of proper testing, visitors tend to come back 12 months later."

----

FROM ROYAL STOKE HOSPITAL:

A Trust spokesman said: "Clinicians at Royal Stoke University Hospital continue to treat three patients who were admitted via the Major Trauma Centre following serious injuries sustained in the incident at Alton Towers on Tuesday."
Click to expand...

That's the most credible news I've heard on this story. Reporting in general has been appalling for this incident.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
DiogoJ42 said:
Urg, I'd forgotten how horrible that website is. :/
Click to expand...

In all fairness, that page was obviously thrown together very last minute hence the very basic appearance. Right now, functionality over appearance is key and the facts are delivered as intended.

The rest of the website.... well.... that's for another day.
 
Danza91 said:
BBC are reporting that it took 11 minutes for the emergency services to be called. How significant could this be for those that were on the front row? 11 minutes is a very long time before phoning 999.
Click to expand...
It wouldn't surprise me if it did take 11 minutes to contact emergency services. I have been involved in role-play for major incidents at major hazards chemicals sites, and it normally takes at least 5-10 minutes before the call to emergency services gets made. In an emergency situation, it is amazing how time gets swallowed up. And even in a role-play scenario, it was extremely pressured - god knows what it is like in a real situation.
 
Whilst I'm glad the park is closed while they investigate fully, in my opinion if they remain close any longer than tomorrow it could start having a negative affect.

Currently it helps the parks image and shows how seriously they are taking things. If it goes on much longer however I think people may start having different thoughts and it could start to look more worrying and negative rather than sensible and positive.
 
The the thing that we call 'human error' is almost always a breakdown in a number of compounding factors. In order for the button to be pressed or not-pressed at a particular moment (for an example), several things have to have happened before then to have allowed for a critical failure to occur. For that reason, analysis into what went wrong becomes a complex and quite lengthy process, presumably involving interviews with lots of members of staff. If the park has discovered a significant weakness in, for instance, staff communication, the corollary of which was the accident, then this will be something which affects the whole park as the robustness of staff procedures is compromised in a more general way. It wouldn't surprise me if, following initial investigations, either today has or tomorrow will be used to give emergency re-training to staff. Does anyone know if staff have gone into work either today or will do tomorrow? You would assume, at least, all ride staff would have to have some kind of meeting to sort of re-induct them after the incident and prepare them to restart.

Thoughts are with them; despite reassurances of how rare this incident was, if I worked on a ride, I would certainly be deeply anxious about restarting work.
 
Oh yes, there is always more than just one cause in these things. You only have to watch Air Crash Investigation to see how many minor issues can combine in an unforseen way to become a major catastrophy.

In theory, if you trace things back far enough, everything is caused by "human error", as the systems were designed and built by humans. The real question is, at what point in the chain was the "error" made?
 
If I saw the train leave the top of the lift I would of been on the phone within seconds telling them that it had crashed even before it had,from what I've heard the block system did it's job, it was what happened after is where the problem is meaning it could happen on any coaster which is why the whole park is closed.
 
Yeah those videos aren't in order, the second half is the stalled train before the loaded train crashed. It's certainly not a third train on the track as it may look.
 
Ah, makes sense. Thought it was a strange place for a train to stall. What an awful incident.
It's really obvious now you mention it, sorry!
 
Sounds good to me, I love the Nemesis queue!
Could watch her all day!
I would imagine they have closed the park to review the emergency procedures on all the rides. It may not be Towers decision.
 
Status
This topic has been locked. No further replies can be posted.
Top