Merlin found at fault for Smiler accident

[gouldy]

Some steel parts have turned up on site, possibly for some kind of evacuation structure, should the ride ever stall at that point with people in the train.





Image credit: Towers Street

Great find! I can see steel rods and steps used for an evacuation. They might be for that purpose.

that shows that the ride should be re-opening!

[mkingy]

If that's the case I'm kind of surprised it's not a standard Gerstlauer attached to the track?

[Coasterkidmwm]

Hopefully it won't be as dumb as the Windseeker evacuation platforms

So if Smiler crashes again with empty train and full train, the evacuation from the crash site won't take so much time as it took first time? First i came up with idea, that AT park wants to add park employees to stand on those racks and infrorm the Smiler station staff if the running trains cannot make the track around to the end..

Where's that bullschaisse sarcasm came from? Some Britt GP:s news troller mouth? It is GREAT news that Smiler will open

^ Smiler smiles on all legit thrill seekers! Leave GPs alone.

[Paradox]

Here's an interesting article. It basically confirms that the investigation found human error to be the cause. It also goes into one of the victims' opinions and there's a part with Nick Varney there too.

a few of the main medics recently collected a daily mirror pride of Britain award.

sorry for the double post, but i thought i'd share this with you guys: ironically, there's a CSI spin-off called CSI: Cyber, where the team investigated incidents caused by/involving computer systems being hacked, and i heard that one of the episodes was about a roller coaster crash that was caused by someone hacking the control system. I'd never watched the show before, and never will again, but i watched this particular episode to see how accurate they had got the technical details. here's the link to the episode: http://www.channel5.com/shows/csi-cyber ... sode-2-805

^ Thanks for sharing.

[mkingy]

CSI: Cyber looks awful, it's all about NCIS.

uh-oh- Alton Towers is going to use human volunteers to test the ride soon! http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest- ... -ride-safe

[Dirk_Ermen]

skyscraper wrote:

uh-oh- Alton Towers is going to use human volunteers to test the ride soon! http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest- ... -ride-safe

Angry mob in 3... 2... 1...

The fear mongering is rampant

[Blase Rhine]

Someone fly me there and Ill gladly be a guinea pig

[Metazoanhaddock]

seriously...

Sign me up. I want the credit.

[gouldy]

Welcome to British Tabloid news reporting.

Half of all people have a less than average IQ. These are the people the tabloids am themselves at, and they lap this stuff up.

Dirk_Ermen wrote:

skyscraper wrote:

uh-oh- Alton Towers is going to use human volunteers to test the ride soon! http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest- ... -ride-safe

Angry mob in 3... 2... 1...

The first says "Calm Down!" and the next says "Then smile!" The last says "Congratulations you're the smilers!"

= person.

She said: ???I got upset. I knew they???d want to reopen it, but not so quickly. It???s disrespectful.???

This just frustrates me.

raptor

nuff said

uh-oh, now jobs are at risk!

Alton Towers could axe up to 190 jobs after visitor numbers plunged in the wake of a major rollercoaster crash.

Last month, theme park owner Merlin Entertainment revealed a sharp drop in revenue as visitors stayed away after the accident on The Smiler, which left five people seriously injured.

The 500-acre theme park in Staffordshire was shut down for four days following the crash.

They added that it appreciated the contribution employees had made to the business and 'just how distressing this will be for everyone.'


Smiler crash victim Leah Washington, who had to have her left leg amputated following the June incident today revealed she has received a number of vile Twitter messages making fun of her following the horror crash.


Her boyfriend Joe Pugh, 19, smashed both knees when two carriages collided while Vicky Balch, 20, lost her right leg in the crash and her partner Daniel Thorpe, 28, also suffered leg injuries.

In September Merlin Entertainments said the wet weather and memories of the accident continue to weigh on the business.

While the third quarter revenues were in line with expectations, rising 0.3 per cent, chief executive Nick Varney said it could take until 2017 before trading returns to normal.

Merlin is the second biggest visitor attractions group in the world behind Walt Disney. But it ditched much of its advertising campaign ahead of the crucial summer trading period, which dented visitor numbers as marketing has always been the key to drawing in customers.

A MailOnline visit to Alton Towers in August showed many areas deserted with ride carriages running empty. Visitors could get straight on to rides which previously had two-hour queues.

Last month Alton Towers' owner announced plans to build numerous attractions across China as part of a joint venture with a Chinese media firm.

The deal will see it develop a Legoland park in Shanghai and various visitor attractions across the country in partnership with China Media Capital (CMC), it said.

Speaking about the joint venture, Merlin chief executive Nick Varney identified China as a key growth market for the group.

He added: 'We see this partnership as providing a significant opportunity to accelerate our plans. We are also very excited to be working with CMC on the development and roll-out of new brands.

'By working together in partnership we will be able to combine our expertise in operating world-class attractions with CMC's insight and expertise in the Chinese market.'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... eople.html

The people that were making fun of Leah following that deserve all the awkward restrictions that registered sex offenders face. Actually I don't wanna call them 'people' because that's too generous. I don't wanna be associated with the same race. Even if I referred to them as 'cancer' that would be an insult to cancer.

[Paradox]

^What are you talking about? I don't remember people making fun of her.