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The Smiler Incident - What Happened

The judge has said the crash was a “catastrophic failure” by the theme park’s operator.

He said human error was not the cause the crash, which was a “needless and avoidable accident”.

He said those onboard the ride were “fortunate not to have been killed”.
 
Yes it was human error, looks like the judge is going to make an example of merlin, sounds like he's on one.
 
The operator of Alton Towers has been fined £5million over the crash.

The judge says thousands of young people were exposed to harm on the ride.
 
It was easily going to be in seven figures. £5m does seem like a fair amount, though the tabloids will probably be saying it's not enough, and demanding that The Smiler be closed for good.
 
A lot of good will come out of this though, stuff that was added as an afterthought, will be standard on all coasters in the future/now.

"Lessons will be learnt" as they seem to say these days.
 
Five million seems like getting off lightly to me. I presume this doesn't include compensation?
 
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RoyJess said:
I can't understand how the engineers failed to realise that there were 5 trains on the track when it was they who added the fifth train to the track?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-stoke-staffordshire-37471624

I also feel sorry for the female ride operator who took the rap shortly after the incident by getting sack, but no one else higher up was given the sack.
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It will have been mechanical engineers that put the extra train on, but electrical engineers that were called for the fault.

This is what I have said all along, Engineers that were at the ride previously for electrical faults during the day, not realising an extra train had been put on, seeing the 4 trains there and just re-starting the ride. If the ride had given the same error earlier on in the day without there actually being a problem then when there actually was a problem there was a boy who cried wold scenario where the engineers didn't believe the ride system, because they didn't know about the extra train on the track, and overrode it.
 
Benzin said:
Such information would be better shared, then we can actually see if the calculations are correct...
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As they are talking about the energy of the crash I've only used the good old E = 0.5mv^2. I'm sure you could do it yourself using their 90mph and 1500kg car. It's the speed of the Smiler trains that is up for debate, however I still think they've overestimated.
 
Jonathan said:
It was easily going to be in seven figures. £5m does seem like a fair amount, though the tabloids will probably be saying it's not enough, and demanding that The Smiler be closed for good.
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I doubt that will happen. The HSE have said that there has never been anything wrong with the ride istelf and the judge has praised the additional safety measures Towers have implemented since it happened. I do expact that the tabloids will continue to call for Varney's head though.

:)
 
Rob said:
I doubt that will happen. The HSE have said that there has never been anything wrong with the ride istelf and the judge has praised the additional safety measures Towers have implemented since it happened. I do expact that the tabloids will continue to call for Varney's head though.

:)
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Yeah, I think you're right. Especially with the front cover of the Daily Mirror this morning!
 
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