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Incident on The Smiler 02/06/2015

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Tarquin said:
On a side note, considering a lot of the damage appears to have been caused by the front 'safety' rail crumpling and crushing their legs, surely the trains cannot continue in their current form? While I appreciate that no rollercoasters are prepared/tested for a crash occurring but seeing as the Smiler is the one rollercoaster that did crash, it would make sense to me to prepare for the event happening again with physical changes to the trains.
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I could see them replacing the bar with something that would break under impact, that way it wouldn't crush people in the front row.

http://news.sky.com/story/1501653/alton-towers-amputee-could-receive-millions
Half way down the page with the caption "Video:Smiler Ride Had Previous Problems"

Was this before the interview or after, the article was published 6 hours ago. I can't see them using her again.
 
This leach of a lawyer is going to loose these poor guys the sympathy that they are currently enjoying.
The loss of a limb whilst terrible is only "worth" a 6 figure payout in the dirty world of the compensation culture, only a severe brain injury generally receives 7 figures.
The lawyer is doing them a pure injustice if he is getting there hopes up of millions.
 
BigT said:
This leach of a lawyer is going to loose these poor guys the sympathy that they are currently enjoying.
The loss of a limb whilst terrible is only "worth" a 6 figure payout in the dirty world of the compensation culture, only a severe brain injury generally receives 7 figures.
The lawyer is doing them a pure injustice if he is getting there hopes up of millions.
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I'm not going to pretend that I'm an expert on compensation claims but this is the lawyer who got the largest pay out in personal injury claim history at £23 million. That was obviously a different set of circumstances - the persons mum was killed and she was paralysed completely in the legs and left with severe weakness in her arms. Still, wouldn't surprise me if she did get seven figures seeing as Merlin have accepted full responsibility. Still, won't know for sure for some time I'd imagine.
 
Tarquin said:
I'm not going to pretend that I'm an expert on compensation claims but this is the lawyer who got the largest pay out in personal injury claim history at £23 million. That was obviously a different set of circumstances - the persons mum was killed and she was paralysed completely in the legs and left with severe weakness in her arms. Still, wouldn't surprise me if she did get seven figures seeing as Merlin have accepted full responsibility. Still, won't know for sure for some time I'd imagine.
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Yeah there are very different things at play here.

There is (1) compensation for the injury (2) the cost of further treatment, rehabilitation, future care (3) loss of potential earnings

Amputation pay outs can be worth millions.
 
Johno said:
Yeah there are very different things at play here.

There is (1) compensation for the injury (2) the cost of further treatment, rehabilitation, future care (3) loss of potential earnings

Amputation pay outs can be worth millions.
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Not true. As I stated in a previous post, amputation payouts tend to be lower 6 figure sums. One case I know of, which got a big payout due to the nature of the guys work, his age, and the size of the corporation treating him well, was in the region of £750k. But that is towards the top end of payments. Insurance companies tend to pay £100-£200k.
 
I wonder if the reason it keeps being brought up is to get her a higher amount. If the lawyer keeps saying that she'll get 'seven figures', and she's 'only' awarded a few hundred thousand when the time comes, then people are going to question why AT didn't give her more and it will make them look bad.
 
EmilyJEG said:
I wonder if the reason it keeps being brought up is to get her a higher amount. If the lawyer keeps saying that she'll get 'seven figures', and she's 'only' awarded a few hundred thousand when the time comes, then people are going to question why AT didn't give her more and it will make them look bad.
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Yeah, there'll be public uproar if she's given anything less than a million. It's now assumed she'll get at least a seven figure amount thanks to it being repeated in the press so many times.
 
Tarquin said:
Yeah, there'll be public uproar if she's given anything less than a million. It's now assumed she'll get at least a seven figure amount thanks to it being repeated in the press so many times.
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I agree - and for that reason I now suspect any payment received might actually be more than £1m. I didn't think it would when this all started, but in monetary terms there isn't a great deal of difference between say £750k and £1m, but in PR terms there is a massive difference - a '7 figure settlement' always sounds an order of magnitude better than a '6 figure settlement'.

But the final call may be down to the insurance company, who may not be too keen in paying out a big settlement. Doing so may set a benchmark for other cases, which the insurance company won't want. In the £750k example I gave, I believe the company self-insured - with Merlin that isn't the case, and they may be constrained by the insurance company.

But whatever the figure eventually is, nothing can really compensate somebody for such a life changing incident.
 
Going back to the videoing comments a page back. People only seem to do that with these things because they see 100s of people around them a think 'oh well, someone else will call 999'. Same thing happens in many kinds of accidents. Just like driving past a crash on the motorway, you go past and assume someone else is dealing with calling the emergency services.

I doubt the girl who lost her leg will get millions and millions, she will get a good payout, although no money will fix something that will affect the rest of her life.

Whatever she gets though there will still be 'public uproar'. Nothing will make the public happy in general with these things.
 
Another ride down. Hope no injuries
EC50ABA5-B62C-45C8-AF79-DD1252D7599F_zpsb1aos3wm.jpg
 
GaryH said:
The world is a sick place, a very sick place. How often do you see ISIS on the news beheading someone, or throwing them off a building, and everyone with their mobile phones out to video it.
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Because viewing something through a lens distances and removes you from a horrible event - it's an unconscious coping mechanism.

Or we could just try not explaining it and call everybody sick and wrong, whatever.
 
I have just got round to reading the interview with Joe Pugh and once again I must ask, why on earth didn't any guests call 999!? Just can't get my head around the way people think 'not my problem'.

As for Joe, he seems like a good, mature lad and it's good to get a bit more info on what happened before the crash. Completely understand him saying he won't be getting back on a rollercoaster.
 
Danza91 said:
I have just got round to reading the interview with Joe Pugh and once again I must ask, why on earth didn't any guests call 999!? Just can't get my head around the way people think 'not my problem'.
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Because you'd obviously assume that the organisation in charge of running the location that you're in and the ride that just crashed would be doing that...?
 
Sam said:
Because you'd obviously assume that the organisation in charge of running the location that you're in and the ride that just crashed would be doing that...?
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I mentioned this as a possible reason last week, but it's not a valid excuse if you're staring right at the people screaming. If you witness an accident on the motorway do you ignore it and leave Highways England to phone the emergency services?
 
Danza91 said:
I mentioned this as a possible reason last week, but it's not a valid excuse if you're staring right at the people screaming. If you witness an accident on the motorway do you ignore it and leave Highways England to phone the emergency services?
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No because the Highways people don't have a dozen or so staff who would have been immediately aware of the crash seconds after it happened. It's perfectly reasonable to assume in that situation that one of them would be calling 999.
 
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