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The Smiler Incident - What Happened

I'd say that given the ride was known to stall in high winds (did it happen once or twice before the crash? I forget) The onus should have been on them to install the wind speed gizmos before opening it again. And yet they didn't until it was too late...
 
The HSE have said in a new report that engineers may have felt pressured into getting the ride open again as quickly as possible because of performance bonuses relating to the amount of downtime. Targets were set for the amount of downtime on each ride and clocks in the op cabin would highlight performance on downtime. The engineers believed that there were only four train on the circuit at the time so re-started the ride.

:)
 
I'd imagine that they didn't foresee such an incident happening, and thus didn't install the wind speed measuring equipment. I can somewhat understand that, though they absolutely should've done it after it stalled the first time to reduce the risk of a train stalling again.
 
Only just got round to reading this. I normally have a lot of understanding for towers, but I find it shocking some of the things that have been said today. I'm amazed they didn't read the manual and that it was running when gerst had told them not to. That said though, it is looking like a small amount of responsibility can be placed on gerst. It's badly designed, coasters should not be able to stall, especially if the trims (one of the few controllable elements of the ride after it leaves the lift hill) that contributed to the loss of speed.
 
17 minutes between the crash happening and anyone calling 999‽ That should have been the very first thing they did!
 
Even B&Ms can stall, and they really micromanage their designs...

This incident happened as a result of poor procedures in place in case of a stall, whilst lack of training and maybe even employee pressure added to the factors...

Trying to claim that the wind did not contribute to the stall stinks of passing the blame, especially given the park made no attempt to implement things after it stalled whilst testing...
 
spinba11 said:
What are the rules when 999 needs to be called?
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When there is an emergency!

More up dates

"The court is talking about the size of the fine depending on the size of the company.

The Judge has seen that in 2015, Merlin Entertainments reported a turnover of £385m, compared with their turnover to August of this year of more than £300m - meaning an effective loss of £2.3m year on year.

Judge Michael Chambers QC wants month-by-month breakdown of turnover to determine the impact. He also called for clarification on bonuses awarded to directors."

"More points of mitigation have been raised in court:




    • A good safety record can be advanced in this case
    • There was a prompt acceptance of responsibility
    • The Chief executive apologising on national television on day of incident"
"Both the Health and Safety Executive prosecuting and Merlin say there is no suggestion the ride itself was unsafe or inadequately designed, despite it being the first of its kind."

The court heard theme park technicians had sat down with the manufacturer to improve safety further and had introduced some "innovative" measures.

Edit:

CCTV catches the moment of impact of crash
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/alton-towers-smiler-rollercoaster-crash-8893176
http://www.itv.com/news/central/2016-09-26/first-cctv-of-alton-towers-smiler-ride-crash-released/
 
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I think I've said all along that the fact Merlin accepted responsibility, and that Nick Varney publicly apologised for the incident on the day (travelling to Towers as quickly as possible), would mitigate any fine received, even though it's going to be hefty. This does not at all negate what happened, however.
 
"The court has now seen the salary details of Merlin's key figures.

Nick Varney, CEO of Merlin, received a salary of £581,000 in 2015 plus £128,000 to make a total package of £733,000.

Varney also received a bonus of £858,000 in 2014.

The Merlin directors did not receive a bonus at all in 2015, Judge Michael Chambers QC was told.

The hearing at Stafford Crown Court has finished for the day and will continue at 10:30 tomorrow."
 
RoyJess said:
No, a member of public could have made the call instead of videoing the incident on their camera phones :rolleyes:
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Part of the problem with a member of the public making the 999 call, though, is that they'd presumably need to know where the ambulances would need to go in order to get to the incident site as quickly as possible. Most members of the public wouldn't know that, however. Their first reaction would probably be to either film it, or just stand there in shock at what had just happened.
 
Jonathan said:
Part of the problem with a member of the public making the 999 call, though, is that they'd presumably need to know where the ambulances would need to go in order to get to the incident site as quickly as possible. Most members of the public wouldn't know that,
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The medical staff in Alton Towers first aid building are professional hospital and ambulance staff working for the NHS. So I sure that the local ambulance service will know where to go.

Jonathan said:
however. Their first reaction would probably be to either film it, or just stand there in shock at what had just happened.
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That is the problem with today's society, it's all about getting that photo/video to up their social media status :rolleyes:
 
I am sure I remember this issue of the delay in calling 999 being discussed when it first emerged a few days after the incident.

I believe the conclusion was along the lines of- in order to avoid confusion the procedure will have been for the situation to have been reviewed by management/first responders before the call was made, then the security office would need to be made aware to ensure the emergency services were led via the correct internal access roads to get to the right area of the park.

The danger with anyone calling 999 is the confusion of what the severity of the issue is, where in the park it is, what services need to attend etc and where they go when they arrive. If it is led by trained management/first responders this can be managed much more effectively. Whether changes have been made since this incident to speed up this process remains to be seen though.
 
Well.. that footage is hard to watch. I said it then and I say it now, I cannot imagine how those hours panned out for the riders from there.. :(

Looks like this is no cut and dry decision by the Judge; plenty to take into account and many pieces of evidence to hear before a fine is imposed. I guess we'll find out tomorrow.
 
I thought it was pretty common k owledge that the technical staff aren't subject to the same procedures and operating manuals as the ride operators. It always seems to be taken that their role is above these, despite the fact they are the ones responsible for ensuring rides are working correctly

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