That's just bordering on ridiculous, an frankly disgusting they made a story out of cost of limbs. I've not posted in a long time but that news article really annoyed me.
They are completely begging it now, we ought to ignore it and not give them the satisfaction of knowing people are reading.
Just on that point about th13teen being closed for a few minutes, people said this scared them, but how stupid can you get? If the ride is closed due to technical difficulties, it is a safety thing which completely rules out any possibility of an accident occurring. Would those people rather they continue to operate it and have an accident? Honestly..
The mirror and there "news" stories are diabolical!
The victims should and will be compensated, but putting it in a story like that is very distastefull, monetizing each and every body part you could lose is awful, it should also be noted that no amount of money will ever be enough to replace a limb!
Is anybody else concerned this will affect future investment in the park? what with the significant damage claims to be paid and the park may also want to keep a lower profile for a while.
What's the situation on the noise complaint at that end of the park? is it still ongoing? X sector has had a rough time all in all!
This will probably do nothing but is there a way to report these news reports?
If we can get enough attention then they would have to stop spreading the bull
I know its frustrating but you can't get angry at the general public for reacting in the way they do to ride breakdowns after whats happened.
Remember we're all enthusiasts, we know about the fail safes, block breaks, anti-roll backs, E-stops etc. but the average joe probably has no idea what any of these are, let alone know they're on every ride.
If you wanna get angry at the newspapers for fanning the flames go ahead, but don't be so surprised that the general public are a little frightened of the odd bump and bang after whats happened.
I can just see this type of report in the press....
Nigel from Hanley had a lucky escape after another ride appeared to show a technical glitch at Alton Towers.
With the Deadly collision on the Smiler ride fresh in everyones mind, the thirteen coaster appeared to stall.
Nigel was on the ride, when it stopped and then the lights went out, after a violent jerk the lights came back on as the ride was emergency reversed backwards.
Nigel said " it was very worrying, we all thought that another roller coaster would crash into us like on the smiler, at one point it felt like we were falling"
One thing that has bothered me is the fact they were reporting a whole 11 minutes had gone by since the incident and a 999 call was made.
What guest on park around The Smiler has not got a phone? Did one of them not think to make a call, I'm sure the background noise would make the operator on the phone believe it wasn't a prank call.
But instead Twitter, Facebook, Instagram was full of updated statuses telling everyone The Smiler had collided. Luckily the extent of the damage was not life threatening as you all know what a nightmare getting to the park is down those tight winding roads, let alone for emergency services to get on park.
Andy Mc wrote:One thing that has bothered me is the fact they were reporting a whole 11 minutes had gone by since the incident and a 999 call was made.
What guest on park around The Smiler has not got a phone? Did one of them not think to make a call, I'm sure the background noise would make the operator on the phone believe it wasn't a prank call.
But instead Twitter, Facebook, Instagram was full of updated statuses telling everyone The Smiler had collided. Luckily the extent of the damage was not life threatening as you all know what a nightmare getting to the park is down those tight winding roads, let alone for emergency services to get on park.
That's just the world we live in now it really is ridiculous.
One 'interview' that annoyed me was someone who was reporting how scared they felt becuase the rode the Smiler a week ago. I mean from someone who was in the queue, or had ridden it shortly before, you can kinda understand but a newspaper (cant remember if it was the Mirror) using someone that ride it a week ago is ridiculous. I mean anyone one of us could have done that interview along with the hundreds of thousands of people who have ridden it.
Maybe I should go to the mirror and tell them how scared I am because I planned to go to ATR that day but plans feel through last minute therefore it could have been me on that crash! Some people really know how to milk it and gain attention.
Andy Mc wrote:What guest on park around The Smiler has not got a phone? Did one of them not think to make a call, I'm sure the background noise would make the operator on the phone believe it wasn't a prank call.
But instead Twitter, Facebook, Instagram was full of updated statuses telling everyone The Smiler had collided. Luckily the extent of the damage was not life threatening as you all know what a nightmare getting to the park is down those tight winding roads, let alone for emergency services to get on park.
While you are absolutely right here, and I have thought this myself, I do think it is a completely fair presumption that Alton Towers would have already done it immediately, so it doesn't really fall to the guests to do it. If I were in that queue, I know that I would have thought it was done by Alton Towers within seconds.
Last edited by Sr88 on Wed Jun 10, 2015 1:01 am, edited 1 time in total.
Sr88 wrote:I do think it is a completely fair presumption that Alton Towers would have already done it immediately, so it doesn't really fall to the guests to do it.
I don't know what sort of communication devices they have on location of The Smiler, obviously I see they have phones to communicate with one another but surely it would take minutes for a senior member of management of some kind to make it to the site and see that emergency services were required hence the reason I would of thought a guest would see it for what it is and to phone it in.
stealthsmiler wrote:Some people really know how to milk it and gain attention.
Don't tempt me I still have footage from the train I was in at the bottom of the v.lift filming the one stuck at the top reversing, I could send that in and say I was worried about my safety as they get pretty close.
Sr88 wrote:I do think it is a completely fair presumption that Alton Towers would have already done it immediately, so it doesn't really fall to the guests to do it.
I don't know what sort of communication devices they have on location of The Smiler, obviously I see they have phones to communicate with one another but surely it would take minutes for a senior member of management of some kind to make it to the site and see that emergency services were required hence the reason I would of thought a guest would see it for what it is and to phone it in.
But I don't even see why senior management would have been required. Clearly, the ride operator or staff at the ride, or in X-Sector, could have done it instantly if it were as serious as it was. That is a huge failing on the procedure at Alton Towers, as well as common sense.
Sr88 wrote:
But I don't even see why senior management would have been required. Clearly, the ride operator or staff at the ride, or in X-Sector, could have done it instantly if it were as serious as it was. That is a huge failing on the procedure at Alton Towers, as well as common sense.
I'd think you'll find it'll be procedure at a lot of places I've trained as a crossing keeper my local heritage railway and even if the most serious of accidents occurred I've got to phone the duty ops manager who'll call 999 and that I shouldn't.
Aye I guess so it was on a quiet day so I know not all the time they have an employee at the entrance, one video I saw an employee come from the shop. But The Smiler housing station and everything around it isn't exactly ideal for visibility.
Like you said though should of been quicker, I do believe there is a camera pointing downwards as you come out of the cobra roll into the final 2 corkscrews so it should of been visible in the control room surely, not quite sure of any other camera in that vicinity.
If the Mirror gave this much air time to my colleague who lost a hand in Afghanistan in 2013 I'd have more respect for them, but they didn't, so I don't. I've seen plenty of kids get killed or limbs blown off and the most the newspapers did was give them a small mention - most of the time not even that. So when they get on their high horses over a freak industrial accident it makes my blood boil.
What happened to Leah and the others was awful; nobody can deny that. Those casualties that got away with minor injuries will be forever affected by events of the day, as will first-hand witnesses to the accident. This is not how they should be treated.
Everyone's focus now should be on assisting the recovery of casualties, including respecting their privacy if that's what they wish, finding out what caused this horrible accident in the first place, and making sure that it can never happen again.
Meanwhile, the media's focus is on reiterating how horrible it all was and fostering feelings of injustice towards Merlin Entertainment. My view is either do something useful, or get out.
Sr88 wrote:
But I don't even see why senior management would have been required. Clearly, the ride operator or staff at the ride, or in X-Sector, could have done it instantly if it were as serious as it was. That is a huge failing on the procedure at Alton Towers, as well as common sense.
I'd think you'll find it'll be procedure at a lot of places I've trained as a crossing keeper my local heritage railway and even if the most serious of accidents occurred I've got to phone the duty ops manager who'll call 999 and that I shouldn't.
thats usually due to the remoteness of heritage railways and not being able to get a good cell signal... we have the same proceedure on the heritage railway im a volunteer at...
HOWEVER, the mainline railway proceedure is to call the emergency services OURSELVES to the information is passed on first hand, even if we are only requesting police! if we call ops control on the GSMR, they will just put us through to emergency services, they wont make the call for us!
I still have footage from the train I was in at the bottom of the v.lift filming the one stuck at the top reversing, I could send that in and say I was worried about my safety as they get pretty close.
