Safety Concerns At Alton Towers Theme Park Causes Further Ride Closures
Alton Towers has closed a further two rides following safety concerns that were raised by customers at the theme park. One visitor found a large metal clip underneath a ride and informed staff, who then hurried off to close it. Later on, staff at the park closed a further ride due to technical difficulties, raising more questions about the safety of the park.
“We were queuing up for Air to get on as soon as it opened but I saw something under the track. I picked it up and it was a big clunky metal clip. I didn’t know what it could be but thought it must be important. I found a member of staff and handed it to him and explained where I had found it. His face went deathly white and ran off to his supervisor.”
The theme park closed on 2 June when a ride called the Smiler, pictured above, had a serious incident that injured multiple visitors. The crash occurred when an unoccupied carriage was left on the track, leading to a carriage carrying passengers to hit it at around 20mph. Several of the passengers were left with serious injuries, including broken bones in legs and arms as well as a collapsed lung and broken rib.
Leah Washington suffered the worst injury, with the damage to her left leg so bad that it had to be amputated above her knee. However, her family have since said that she is making a very fast recovery and is in good spirits.
Alton Towers suffered another setback yesterday when a different ride had to be evacuated after customers became agitated while it suffered a technical delay.
