The Smiler Incident 02/06/15

[Air15]

But if there outside they cant see whats happeinng inside??

Also they normally have a staff member at the entrance of the ride.

[Stellafella]

My point is more about the problem of media. If you stick a camera in front of someone who was near nemesis they gonna say "yeah i was there, i even climbed the lift hill to help".
I take it all with a pinch of salt but keep seeing reports of people were telling the ride op.
Now to me thats got to be rubbish

[RCandrew]

Alton Towers has been trending worldwide since it happened, this is not good at all of the ride, for Gerstular, for AT or for Merlin. Unfortunately though, these things happen. What I'm getting is that there were faults so an empty car was sent round, after it passed the second lift they sent the next car, like always, around and this had people on it. Then, the empty car has Valleyed and somehow the car dull passed the second lift hill whilst that happened. How that was allowed, no one knows yet, but it shouldn't have... No train should ever be passed of a lift hill if the one in front hasn't reached the breaks yet, right?

[JBragg1]

BBC news report

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[JBragg1]

Evacuation completed by 6.35pm
Four people have been taken to hospital with serious injuries after 16 passengers faced a four-and-a-half hour nightmare trapped on an Alton Towers rollercoaster following an accident.

The crash happened at around 2.09pm on the Staffordshire resort's 50mph Smiler ride after two carriages crashed on a low section of the track.

Two males and two female teenagers suffered serious leg injuries in the crash, while the other 12 occupants required triage.

An Alton Towers spokeswoman said: "I can confirm that the ride has now been fully evacuated and those with serious injuries have been taken to hospital.

"The evacuation was completed by 6.35pm."

[Vladimir Bobinski]

BBC news report

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Expert witness analysis...."They weren't that high, well not as high as I thought, they were coming down from something quite high and blah blah blah".

[JBragg1]

@TowersTimes: As a result of today's incident, @altontowers will not open tomorrow (3/6/15). The park will either re-validate tickets, or refund guests.

[RCandrew]

Watching that video, BBC NEWS, an eye witness claimed th full train had stopped at the top of the lift hill will the other car stalled, however it then went over the hill and continued even though the other was stalled??!

[Rita 2005]

@TowersTimes: As a result of today's incident, @altontowers will not open tomorrow (3/6/15). The park will either re-validate tickets, or refund guests.

I'm not sure what to make of this, there have been very serious accidents on rides at AT before, but they have never taken this measure. Makes me wonder if it is a Maintenance or Ride Operation Procedure/Training that might affect the maintenance/operation of other rides and they have closed to try and rectify their procedures? Obviously like everyone I don't know the full facts and am speculating.

[dazza4783]

From Altontowers.com

"The decision has been taken that Alton Towers theme park will not open tomorrow Wednesday 3rd June following the dreadful incident on The Smiler today. All guests with pre-booked tickets, or those who arrive at the theme park, will have the choice of either having their tickets revalidated for an alternative date or a full refund.
We will be posting regular updates on the theme park closure on both our website and social media channels."

[Vladimir Bobinski]

@TowersTimes: As a result of today's incident, @altontowers will not open tomorrow (3/6/15). The park will either re-validate tickets, or refund guests.

I'm not sure what to make of this, there have been very serious accidents on rides at AT before, but they have never taken this measure. Makes me wonder if it is a Maintenance or Ride Operation Procedure/Training that might affect the maintenance/operation of other rides and they have closed to try and rectify their procedures? Obviously like everyone I don't know the full facts and am speculating.

Pretty much, professional slander/defamation where assuming human error is a slippery slope.

[JammyBand]

There appear to be reports that the second train stopped on the first lift hill mid-way up, as if to suggest that the automatic sensors did work and automatically stopped the second train running. But then the second train set off again over the hill.

We must be aware that this report may not be true. But if it is, then what happened to allow the train to be set off again over the lift hill if it already stopped mid way up? Hmm

[Sentri558]

Speculation here folks

One time when I was little, some government people were tampering with the nearby traffic lights. It ended up with 3 green lights in each lane, fortunately one person realised what was happening and stopped coming, but that left out little hatchback and a van to battle it out. There was a pretty big crash, everyone was more-or-less okay. I'm pretty sure this is what happened here.

Techies doing work on the computers/mechanics at silly times, resulting in everything else being locked out. Something messes up and both cars hit the same section.

I'm probably wrong, and it's pointless to guess, but we'll all know soon, hopefully.


(Just a note: After this incident, the park as a whole will be safer than ever, hopefully not to guests inconvenience)

[Welsh_Tenor]

I'm not sure what to make of this, there have been very serious accidents on rides at AT before, but they have never taken this measure. Makes me wonder if it is a Maintenance or Ride Operation Procedure/Training that might affect the maintenance/operation of other rides and they have closed to try and rectify their procedures? Obviously like everyone I don't know the full facts and am speculating.

I take this that H&S have shut the park down... AT don't say "we have decided" the press announcement released says "the decision has been taken"....

[Adz]

Hello Everyone,

As I'm sure you can understand this is a very sensitive issue, and whilst we understand the need to discuss it we do ask that you be mindful of what you post when it comes to unconfirmed reports and potentially slanderous accusations.

Please also use discretion when posting potentially sensitive images and videos. We're aware of a video circulating that shows the ride immediately after the incident - you are welcome to link to this but please warn others in your post of the language used in the video. The same applies to any other media which some may find distressing.

Thanks everyone.

[Themeparksandy1981]

I been watching Central,itv and sky news. I'm not gonna blame anyone to a full report comes out but reading reports it was having problems most of the day with many closures.

[Zac]

By total coincidence I know, but where was Altons last fatal accident?

[MakoMania]

I wonder what's happening with the other Gerstlauer rides like SAW at Thorpe. When there was a problem with the Maurer X-Car coasters every single one of them was shut for a while.

[Adz]

By total coincidence I know, but where was Altons last fatal accident?

As far as I'm aware there has never been a fatal incident at Alton Towers that was the parks fault. There's nothing to suggest this is fatal either at this point.

[Zac]

Black hole....