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Incident on The Smiler 02/06/2015

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Can't see having to wait for the train to approach the final brake run being a big problem in terms of throughput though, except on Th13teen if that's only on two trains?
 
Air will take a bigger hit than Thirteen, as that very rarely stacks on 3 trains (Thirteen didn't when new, but loading isn't as fast now). In theory, Air can get 52 trains/hr on full capacity but just 32 on 2 trains/2 stations.
 
Ive sent merlin an email about my premium pass, im not happy about about no ERT , and all the closures.

Hope they add a week or two on it.

I only tend to use it at Alton Towers, i understand the seriousness of it all, but ive spent good money on it.

I may get called insensitive on here, but ive seen pictures of people on here queueing at guest services when a ride or two has been shut before.
 
Just looking through wikapedia (not like I do this often :oops:) and found this, don't remember but then again the ride closed almost 10 years before I was born.
Alton Mouse
  • In its last season of operation a car stalled on the second big drop. The ride shut down as designed, with other cars held at various blocks before and after the stalled car. The ride operator restarted the ride thinking that the stalled car (which had valleyed) would also start and continue its journey. A second car collided with it.The report in to the incident found that the member of staff had inadequate training. She also had access to keys that allowed her to override the block system, a procedure that should only authorised by a more qualified person, such as maintenance. Alton Towers were fined.
Does this mean that the health and safety records will show 2 similar accidents and will be worse for fines.

AirFAN said:
Just watching a video on YouTube of the ride testing (assume from prior to opening). The speed at which the train comes out of Batwing really is slow. I haven't been on the ride myself - was anything done to improve this after ride opening? Clearly it has stalled in the past but at the speed the train is seen coming out of the inversion in this video, I'm surprised it hasn't stalled more.


  • As other people have said. You would never expect Nemesis to even appear as though it was going to stall - even when empty and running in sub zero temperatures. Is there just a massive design flaw in this ride?
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  • Just a thought, but could this video of them testing the ride possibly be part of the health and safety tests to see how slow the trains must be travelling for it to stall and possibly add sensors to detect how fast the trains are traveling and make the ride e-stop.
Hope this isn't actual safety precautions put in place to stop a high impact crash, meaning that the ride is permanently at the speed of 10 mph :p
 
Dave said:
I do worry about the effect on throughputs for Th13teen if they can't send a train until the next one is in the brakes. All the other currently operating coasters tend to only have one train out at a time anyway.
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Yeah as I mentioned the only one we had to queue for was Th13teen that was about 20 mins, even on a day as quiet as today, so throughput on this coaster does seem to be affected at the moment, will be interested to see what happens during the busier periods when they would normally introduce more trains.
 
Balb0wa said:
Ive sent merlin an email about my premium pass, im not happy about about no ERT , and all the closures.

Hope they add a week or two on it.

I only tend to use it at Alton Towers, i understand the seriousness of it all, but ive spent good money on it.

I may get called insensitive on here, but ive seen pictures of people on here queueing at guest services when a ride or two has been shut before.
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will be interesting to see if they do,
if they are giving out £50 return tickets, an extra week or three on the MAP sounds reasonable :)
 
bluesonichd said:
will be interesting to see if they do,
if they are giving out £50 return tickets, an extra week or three on the MAP sounds reasonable :)
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Actually, isn't £50 the cost to upgrade to a premium. Don't know what they'd do of you had a premium. Maybe fastracks
 
Think it's a bit off to be asking for something as pass holders to be honest. People who had pre-booked tickets were inconvenienced because they were intending to go that day. Pass holders can go anytime throughout he entire year. THIS is where compensation culture comes in and is abusing a situation where 16 people were involved in a horrific accident. You weren't
 
EuroSatch said:
Think it's a bit off to be asking for something as pass holders to be honest. People who had pre-booked tickets were inconvenienced because they were intending to go that day. Pass holders can go anytime throughout he entire year. THIS is where compensation culture comes in and is abusing a situation where 16 people were involved in a horrific accident. You weren't
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Totally agree with the last part but not so much with the rest.

You say that we can go any time of the year, but hotel bookings that are in advance...
Ok, I only live 40 minutes away so I can't say much about this incident but if it happened at thorpe park where I would have a hotel, I would want compensation of some sort. I know lots of people who own maps are not lucky enough to live only 40 minutes away from Alton towers so this will effect them. If you booked hotels, and lots of rides were shut, and people even with free tickets get return tickets, I would expect something.

Again, totally agree with that last sentence of your post.
 
as far as I am aware AT were giving tickets out yesterday and today to everyone, prebooked or not. just the MAP holders who didnt get a sausage.
 
Have Gerst made a statement about the crash yet or are they likely to make a statement?
 
On the free Annual Pass point, I'd just like to add a few things. Even people with The Sun 'Free Tickets' (Okay, they probably paid a fiver to get the vouchers for arguments sake) dated for today were getting free return tickets that a good proportion of will just sell them on Ebay for £15-20 a piece and not return themselves. That's a Fiver for a day out at Alton Towers then a bonus of £15-20 if they so wish. Also they shouldn't be getting ERT with those 'Free' tickets, but on my few visits so far this season everyone has been let in at 9am and I've not had my pass checked once on any ERT ride so obviously people who havn't paid for the ERT privilege that Annual Pass holders have, have been getting a bonus over Annual Pass holders already. Now Annual Pass holders are not even getting the ERT they have paid for at all. I think people have a small point as Annual Pass holders at the moment if they are giving free tickets out to people with 'Sun Free Tickets' to be honest so I wouldn't blame Annual Pass holders for putting a little complaint in themselves if Alton are in such a free and giving mood. Just a couple of thoughts.
 
Do the annual passes not work in the conventional turnstiles? I seem to recall a sighting of an annual pass holder using one last time.
 
If you had a hotel/transport booked then that's different and I'm sure they would come to an agreement with you if you were inconvenienced. But if it's just to say 'I could've been going so I want something free' then it's out of order in my view

You don't pay for ERT. You pay the AP price for unlimited entry to the parks for the whole year. ERT is a bonus, and entirely within their control to stop ERT operations if deemed necessary.
 
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