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Lightwater Valley

Mr Pearse said:
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/breaking-lightwater-valley-theme-park-22092959

So not surprising but looks like lightwater are to be prosecuted. Could this be the end of lightwater?.
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Its always interesting when reading these articles that people don't sound like they understand the basic physics of a roller coaster. There are reports of people screaming at the operator to stop the ride, but if the vehicle has left the lift hill its not really possible to stop anything. Although its not clear from the article at what point the boy was not correctly restrained, I would assume if the HSE are prosecuting, the vehicle left the station without the restraint being in place correctly. If the boy managed to get out of the restraint later on that is potentially on the parenting not the park?
 
The latest accounts filed cover the 2018 season (for the accounting year ended Feb 2019) and show a profit of £460,000.

The accounts covering 2019 season won’t be filed until November this year.

The accounts do mention that they have no large investment plans, but are looking to introduce a small winter event using the indoor sections of the park.
 
jon81uk said:
Its always interesting when reading these articles that people don't sound like they understand the basic physics of a roller coaster. There are reports of people screaming at the operator to stop the ride, but if the vehicle has left the lift hill its not really possible to stop anything.
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I mean I really don't think that's fair... yes of course you can't possibly stop a coaster car once it's being gravity driven until you get to brakes, but if anyone, even those with a full understanding of the workings of these rides, sees someone hanging out a car, the instinct is going to be to try and get the ride stopped. I certainly wouldn't have stood back and gone "well, it is what it is, the ride can't be stopped until the block brakes now".
 
jon81uk said:
Its always interesting when reading these articles that people don't sound like they understand the basic physics of a roller coaster. There are reports of people screaming at the operator to stop the ride, but if the vehicle has left the lift hill its not really possible to stop anything.
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Why would the average guest understand the physics of a ride?

It’s easy to sit here now and think that it would be pointless to shout out ‘stop the ride’ but if this situation was playing out in front of you and you saw a child hanging from a ride then panick/instinct etc would take over and whilst watching pretty helpless from the side lines there probably isn’t much more you could do than try and get the ride stopped.

Also, this type of coaster is one where stopping the ride could work due to the amount of block brakes.
 
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AT86 said:
The latest accounts filed cover the 2018 season (for the accounting year ended Feb 2019) and show a profit of £460,000.

The accounts covering 2019 season won’t be filed until November this year.

The accounts do mention that they have no large investment plans, but are looking to introduce a small winter event using the indoor sections of the park.
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So with no income and with a possible big fine over this. I don’t think it’s looking to positive from an outside point of view.
 
AT86 said:
Why would the average guest understand the physics of a ride?

It’s easy to sit here now and think that it would be pointless to shout out ‘stop the ride’ but if this situation was playing out in front of you and you saw a child hanging from a ride then panick/instinct etc would take over and whilst watching pretty helpless from the side lines there probably isn’t much more you could do than try and get the ride stopped.

Also, this type of coaster is one where stopping the ride could work due to the amount of block breaks.
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That is all true, I think most people would be trying to alert the operator to the issue at least, I don't expect anyone to stand there idly and do nothing, human nature is most people would say something. and as you say, in this case there would be block brakes.

It doesn't really make a difference if people scream "stop the ride" or "there is a problem, help".

But it was more a general observation on these type of news stories and an understanding of GCSE-level physics. In the same way there are stories of "stranded hundreds of feet in the air" when a coater pauses on the lift hill and escape stairs are clearly within eyeshot.
 
jon81uk said:
But it was more a general observation on these type of news stories and an understanding of GCSE-level physics. In the same way there are stories of "stranded hundreds of feet in the air" when a coater pauses on the lift hill and escape stairs are clearly within eyeshot.
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The best one like that was when Galactica stopped on the lift hill once and riders were "stranded upside down". By that logic, you're upside down every time you lay on your front in bed!

Back on to LW, haven't they got rid of this coaster now?
 
Steve74 said:
The best one like that was when Galactica stopped on the lift hill once and riders were "stranded upside down". By that logic, you're upside down every time you lay on your front in bed!

Back on to LW, haven't they got rid of this coaster now?
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Sold to a showman called Emerson Edwards. I love Lightwater Valley it's a brilliant theme park which sadly relies too much on The Ultimate which is a super crazy ride as their marketing regime. I went on the Twister rollercoaster back in 2018 when I first visited and it was quite the crazy spinning coaster. The restraints were the usual ones but from what I heard about the boy, he somehow was too small and slipped out of the car backwards? I hope Lightwater can pull through this because it's a park way more worth than Flambards in my opinion. They just need to get the right restrictions and also get permanent rides not temporary ones that are good but last like 5 seasons max.
 
Islander said:
I mean I really don't think that's fair... yes of course you can't possibly stop a coaster car once it's being gravity driven until you get to brakes, but if anyone, even those with a full understanding of the workings of these rides, sees someone hanging out a car, the instinct is going to be to try and get the ride stopped. I certainly wouldn't have stood back and gone "well, it is what it is, the ride can't be stopped until the block brakes now".
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I'm interested to find out how you would stop a rollercoaster in-between block brakes? There's pretty much nothing you can do?
 
siralgenon said:
I'm interested to find out how you would stop a rollercoaster in-between block brakes? There's pretty much nothing you can do?
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Well that's the point, you can't. But my point is that human instinct would kick in - you'd still try and alert the operator, you wouldn't just accept the fact that "ah well, nothing to be done now until the next block".
 
Especially as alerting the the operator might prevent an escalation. I'm sure in that position I would rather people show concern and try to alert an operator than to film it on their phone and post on social media
 
Islander said:
Well that's the point, you can't. But my point is that human instinct would kick in - you'd still try and alert the operator, you wouldn't just accept the fact that "ah well, nothing to be done now until the next block".
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Ah I get you, I thought you meant as the operator you'd do something else. I totally understand that people stood around the ride would shout and scream. You're not just going to stand there.
 
Don't mind me, still scanning...

TheCarousel_LightwaterValley_UltimateHype.jpg


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