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Accident at Alton Towers

ITV news have just done a live interview Nick Varney, like a proper goon I took some notes from it :p .

It seems like Saw may also be closed for a while as he said The Smiler and Saw will be closed until the foreseeable future.
It is still being investigated as to what caused the accident but Varney claimed it was "A unique accident caused by a chain of events". Also apparently Merlin are announcing "another level of safety procedures."
Also two rides at Chessington have been closed due to the accident, but they didn't say which. However Varney said it was rides with similar multi-car operating systems so I would guess that would be Dragon's Fury and Rattlesnake?
That could suggest there are issues with the way the rides are operated by Merlin, as opposed to the Manufacturer's operating system.
Alton is closed again tomorrow but should re-open in the next few days.
That's about it, not really much new information I'm afraid.
 
I had a meeting with the a second in command at Thorpe Park just before Smiler opened (I won't mention names). One of the things I questioned was why they keep going for Gerstlauer rides, especially considering the train crash they had with Saw during the first week of operation and Gerstlauer's rep in many other parks. She replied by saying that they have great trust in Gerstlauer and that they're a very reliable and compliant company. Their rides are reliable and have some of the best uptime across the Merlin chain.

I did present many other options such as Intamin but reckoned that they were totally unreliable and stating that they will never be used again at Thorpe Park. Now with this, I'm sure Intamin would be a much more suitable option for such future coasters and I hope Merlin steer away from gimmiks and start providing us with coasters that actually work, that are proven technologies and can find a unique selling point without it being a worlds first.

I always found it an interesting move, The Smiler being a Gerstlauer attraction considering the trouble Merlin have had with them. Why they went back to them is beyond me and knowing that the batwing is a major flaw in the rides design as its a hotspot for valleying, its again beyond me as to why there wasn't procedures in place to cope with this. Probably now there is, but its too late.

I don't know how much of this I've been allowed to say, but hey ho, I've said it and if admins feel they'd want to edit / chop this post, go for it as it was a private meeting.
 
I think

The ride was having issues before the guests entered the car. Test trains were sent round for one circuit each.

The guests were loaded into the first car that came back around before all test cars had completed the circuit. The car was dispatched (first error)

The last test car to go round stalled (second error)

The ride realised and blocked the guest car on the lift hill. The staff become complacent because of the issues experienced minutes beforehand and decide not to immediately evacuate the guests or fully check the CCTV (third error)

Tech support comes in and may have been relayed false information from the staff. Maybe they weren't told about the car stalling and to push the ride forward or maybe they just made an error and sent the car forward by accident (fourth error)

Car crashes and staff decide to call the Alton towers first response team rather than 999. The first response team have difficulty getting to the passengers and thus it takes a further 10/11 minutes before a call is even made for medical help (fifth error)

The park is closed for numerous days firstly for PR purposes so they appear as though they're taking the matter as a huge concern/priority and secondly because I believe they know it's been caused by human error and that they need to re-evaluate procedures and speak to staff in depth about moving forward.

The other coasters in other parks are probably closed for unrelated matters I'd imagine.
 
Pierre said:
I know this sound really gruesome of me but surely if some bystanders saw a train being released into a section of track where an empty train was valleyed, SOMEONE must have filmed it. Instead we only have videos shortly after impact?

I'm not saying it would have been right to film it, but it would have been filmed (just as the aftermath was) if it was expected.
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I was thinking this too. We've seen footage of the valleyed train just say there and we've seen footage, from exactly the same angle, of the two trains seconds after the crash. There must be footage of the actual crash. I reckon whoever did film it is keeping hold of it and is going to try and sell it. It's an awful notion but there are awful people out there who will try and make the biggest buck, whether Merlin will buy it off them to stop them from releasing it or a large news company will, who knows? But that footage must exist.
 
^I was thinking more along the lines of the footage doesn't exist because the story isn't exactly true. If it was true though then it does exist.
 
^ BBC news showed a video on the day of the crash shortly before it happened and someone filmed the stalled train on the track and the train stuck at the top of the lift hill. It then showed the two trains together just after the crash had happened.

Whether the footage contained the actual collision and they decided not too show it I don't know. But I think that is the case.

What it did confirm was that the train was definitely stopped on the lift hill before the collision.
 
^Yeah I can understand why the footage wasn't actually broadcast on the TV...that would be too horrific a thing to broadcast but I'm sure it could be shown on their website (with viewer advisories provided). Someone must have filmed it and sent it to them. If they had sent footage of the actual crash, they'd put it on the likes of YouTube. I know it sounds heartless but it'd go viral and get a tonne of views. The only reason I can imagine why it hasn't been put on such a site is because they want to sell it to the highest bidder...it must exist. Surely.
 
Jordanovichy said:
^Yeah I can understand why the footage wasn't actually broadcast on the TV...that would be too horrific a thing to broadcast but I'm sure it could be shown on their website (with viewer advisories provided). Someone must have filmed it and sent it to them. If they had sent footage of the actual crash, they'd put it on the likes of YouTube. I know it sounds heartless but it'd go viral and get a tonne of views. The only reason I can imagine why it hasn't been put on such a site is because they want to sell it to the highest bidder...it must exist. Surely.
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I watched the video of the actual crash in YouTube on the day. It wasn't gruesome or anything. Train full of guests hit the stalled train and pushed it forward a few feet and then both rolled backwards into the position the pics were took. The video didn't have sound and it's not there anymore now
 
Ian said:
The full statement, dated today, reads as follows...

Merlin Entertainments
The safety of our visitors is our fundamental priority. We have a strong safety record at Alton Towers and across the Merlin Group. Today we are enhancing our safety standards by issuing an additional set of safety protocols and procedures that will reinforce the safe operation of our multi-car rollercoasters. These are effective immediately.
Each rollercoaster has its own individual operating process and characteristics. Our central safety management team, together with local Park operations, will now work to implement and brief operating staff on these protocols. As a consequence, two rollercoaster rides have been withdrawn from service until the new safety protocols have been applied.

“Whilst the investigation into the causes is continuing, we have identified a series of additional safety protocols that we are implementing immediately across our multi-car rollercoasters. These will act as an additional safeguard to further strengthen our operating and safety standards. This has been a devastating experience, and we are committed to learning the lessons from it.”
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Every coaster in the Merlin chain has been reviewed with new safety protocols in mind.

The new protocols have not been revealed to the public. Anything we hear is rumour.

Ultimately, it is Alton Towers who have had their reputation damaged. 99% of people do not care for the manufacturer, so if it does turn out to be a fault with Gerstlauer, it will still be Alton Towers who will get the blame in the eyes of the 99%. It's like having a BMW with a faulty airbag. The airbag might be made by somebody else but as it's in a BMW, people will wag their fingers at and blame BMW, not the airbag manufacturer.
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It may be true that the cause of the accident hasn't been released yet, but the way they're talking about 'safety protocols and procedures' implies to me that it was the actions and procedures the ride operators followed which need to be amended.

Therefore we can say that ultimately, although it was the ride's valleying which kick-started the chain of events leading to the accident, it was the reaction of the ride staff to this failure that made the problem dangerous. If there was a problem with the PLC control system, they'd be tearing out the ride computer and possibly closing the ride completely. Maybe they just didn't understand the ride system well enough?

Completely agree with you Ian about BMW, but at the moment, it seems this is more the fault of the park than Gertslauer....the manufacturer can only provide the park with information about how to run the ride safely, but if the park has a set of procedures which may prevent this, then surely it's the park's fault?
But then again, did Gerst recommend this way of operating the ride...?


Glad to see the park reopening soon, and it's nice to see Merlin taking every precaution they can - I've been really impressed with their handling of the incident, but some GP just don't understand do they?
 
"Health and safety investigators have handed the Staffordshire-based theme park a prohibition notice – a legally enforced ban – on operating the Smiler until action is taken to deal with the cause of its failure."

This could mean anything, as it doesn't reveal the cause of the failure, but the fact that Smiler and Saw specifically are being closed "for the forseeable future" suggests to me a technical change might be involved. There are other complicated Eurofighters out there (Fluch von Novgorod, Mystery Mine, Karacho), so it would be something specific to Smiler and Saw.

Now that the Smiler trains are being removed, H&SE must have finished their on-site investigation, so I expect AT to re-open soon with revised operating procedures.
 
That interview has made my blood boil. Being unnecessarily bitchy, awful, and just plain rude. Vile woman.

Congratulations of Nick Varney for not rising to her awfulness.
 
Jordanovichy said:
That interview has made my blood boil. Being unnecessarily bitchy, awful, and just plain rude. Vile woman.

Congratulations of Nick Varney for not rising to her awfulness.
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Completely agreed. That was just plain unnecessary - she just fed words into his mouth, like 'the ride is being dismantled as we speak'..which quite clearly has never been released by anyone. She's just playing devil's advocate to somebody who is clearly deeply sorry, and is in the middle of taking the right steps to prevent this kind of thing happening. I also thought he came across very well too.

People just need to accept that everything they do carries a risk - nothing is ever completely, 100% safe. People are killed by vending machines every so often. There is only a certain extent you can do.
 
Kay Burley has always been vile. I think Nick handled the questions well considering he had a vile person betting in. Sky News just didn't seem to take on board the points he made.
 
I got bored of that video, stupid wench repeating the same question over and over.

But in fairness, closing the entire park and rides at other parks will come across as a bit sketchy in the public eye.
 
Surely if multi-car coasters have been closed at other parks Merlin must've identified an issue in their operation of the rides?
 
If anyone fancies a laugh or feels like wanting to smash their computer up check out the uniLAD article comments on their story about the 'lost leg'. Its an enthusiasts nightmare.
 
At least Alton Towers have done the decent thing and offered ALL 16 of the guests involved free fast passes to come back and ride The Smiler when it's fully operational.

Alternatively they can also use that fast pass for a single ride of any of Alton Towers fantastic attraction (not including Nemesis, Oblivion, Rita, Air, Thirteen or Sonic Spinball)
 
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