Chessington World of Adventures Resort

[Chaz]

I guess this is a relevant topic to place this. I usually hate posts that don't have any referencing BUT I'm out and looking at Chessington's Facebook page an incident occurred yesterday.

From what I've gathered-through witness posts and family posts (assuming they are who they say they are) a little girl fell through a gap queuing for Tomb Raider (I can only assume Tomb Blaster) and hit the floor unconscious.

'family' say she is fighting for her life with fractured ribs, skull, blood on the brain and internal bleeding. My thoughts are with the family at this time. What the hell happened? Was there a gap that big?

CWoA have posted a few comments explaining whilst investigations occur they cannot comment.

Anyone have any news links?


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[TB2]

The only place I can really think of is the rope bridges in the outside queueline. As far as I can tell, it's nothing to do with the ride itself, but its closed till the 11th of June according to the website.

[smidgey]

Are those bridges really 30 foot up as suggested on Chessingtons facebook page?  It's been 3-4 years since I've been on Tomb Blaster so cannot remember.

[Jared]

No. Those fences are 3m above the ground.

[Rowe]

This is dreadful to find out and I really do hope that girl recovers soon at the same time that H&S don't go OTT with Tomb Blaster's outdoor queueline and/or close that for a generic ground level cattlepen.

[James6]

Thoughts are with the family, and hope she makes a full recovery.

After looking through the Facebook posts, it seems as if a hole was on one of the bridges, of which the girl fell through.

Would be interesting to know what time it happened, and also how no one, including park guests, noticed it.

[TB2]

Thoughts are with the family, and hope she makes a full recovery.

After looking through the Facebook posts, it seems as if a hole was on one of the bridges, of which the girl fell through.

Would be interesting to know what time it happened, and also how no one, including park guests, noticed it.

One of the people on the facebook group said they saw a young lad put there foot through a gap. This same poster also criticises the park for not noticing said gap, but it's not as if this person thought to report this to a member of staff.

[Dormiens-Dave]

The worst case scenario of poor Merlin maintenance i suppose.... i expect their solution will be not to bother with immersive theming now instead of just looking after what they have.

[Islander]

From Chessington Buzz:

On the 7th June a young girl accidentally fell from the bridge queueline leading towards Tomb Blaster in Forbidden Kingdom at 1pm.

Climbing through a gap pointed out by another young visitor, the 4 year old girl fell 30 feet in front of fellow guests and is now suffering 'fractured ribs, fractured skull blood on the brain in her liver and kidneys'.

She has since been taken to St Georges Hospital in Tooting by the London Ambulance, quoted by The Daily Mail, and is fighting for her life with her family by her side.

The incident is being treated by HSE whom have closed the ride until 11th June for further investigation.

I'm trying to picture the bridge queueline on Tomb Blaster - can't remember any gaping holes in the fence, I thought it was all fairly secure. Clearly not, though. Not a great incident for the park, and kinda highlights the whole 'run down and tired' feel of the place if it was due to poor maintenance or similar.

Any which way, thoughts with the family involved.

[Rowe]

It's been said now that there were at least 2 planks missing from one of the bridges which is what the girl fell through. The only things I can think of are likely are that there were gaps at the side of the bridge between said planks and rope which would've been big enough for a girl that size to fall through. The queueline isn't that tall either, it must be at least 10, 15 feet high?

[Sam]

Merlin's poor maintenance and neglect of their parks finally has very real and very sad consequences.

Thoughts with the girl and her family.

[Tom G]

I think this could do with its own topic given the serious nature of the incident, and discussion seems to be fragmented between here and the accidents thread?

It's quite an alarming incident to sya the least, and with the HSE involved I would expect this to lead to prosecution.

[Dormiens-Dave]

A double post i know but its been a few days. The accident at Chessington has made it to BBC news and its the 2nd most popular story on the site.

This wont be good for Chessie and the poor girl seems in a terrible way. Really feel for the family.

EDIT: Also their FB page is very angry at the moment, lots of people very angry towards the park. Hope they can get past this but i worry they wont.

[James6]

Never seen a backlash like this before, everyone is fuming, which is of course understandable. Hundreds of people coming out and saying they'll never visit the park again etc.

But again, without knowing the whole story, its hard to place a fair amount of fault on Chessington. It is possible (but unlikely) that the planks were fine at opening, but tampered with by other guests. What I mean by that, is there are other possible causes.

Anyway, gutted for the park, gutted for the family. Hope everyone recovers, but especially the girl.

[AstroDan]

Jesus. This is worrying. I want to know exactly what is to blame before forming a full opinion to be honest.

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[dominoes]

Wow, poor Chessington. Am I right in thinking it wasn't really the parks fault? Or was it because of lack of maintenance?

EDIT------

What in god's name is going on?! I hate what is happening on that page! All this rubbish about the way the park should be shut down. It's disgusting. It was a horrible accident, but seriously.

[formula1fan]

At this stage, we don't know the full story, so it's probably best to wait until we have more information before pointing the blame anywhere.

[Rowe]

What makes this tragic for the park, moreso than what AT or Thorpe would get, is that Chessington is the one park that's been calling out for desperate maintenance and investment when Merlin have been increasingly tight on the purse strings. But for now I'll stop speculating.

It's a terrible shame that people are posting such radical comments on Chessington's Facebook page however.

[James]

*wipes brows*

Right, after a few fails on my part of merging the topics (:P) I've managed to get all of the discussion in it's own topic.

[Adam James]

Unfortunately Chessington is one of the parks I haven't yet visited - is the bridge similar to Ripsaws, or is it more 'rickety' so to speak?