Alton Towers boss: 'We are devastated by what happened' BBC News

Sdílet
Vložit
  • čas přidán 2. 06. 2015
  • The chief executive of the company that runs Alton Towers says he is devastated by an accident that left four people with serious injuries.
    Subscribe / bbcnews
    Check out our website: www.bbc.com/news
    Facebook: / bbcworldnews
    Twitter: / bbcworld
    Instagram: / bbcnews

Komentáře • 51

  • @SansXut
    @SansXut Před 5 lety +24

    Not even a crash will stop me from wanting to ride

  • @Crumbs_Crumbs
    @Crumbs_Crumbs Před 9 lety +23

    My favourite place in the world. They will do all they can to make sure this doesn't happen. Human error. Love The Smiler and thank god it will live on.

  • @bentley9972
    @bentley9972 Před 3 lety +12

    It was a human error and nothing to do with the ride being unsafe

  • @AmritSingh-vz8kx
    @AmritSingh-vz8kx Před 9 lety +4

    Sorry for the people

  • @charliebrant8579
    @charliebrant8579 Před 9 lety +29

    he doesn't look too concerned

    • @usedchannel6414
      @usedchannel6414 Před 6 lety +4

      Char X all he is bothered about is the money and the millions he gets

    • @Archman155
      @Archman155 Před 4 lety +5

      @@usedchannel6414 he really wasnt. Nick Varney and indeed the rest of the higher ups at Merlin handled this accident incredibly

    • @copyer9088
      @copyer9088 Před 3 měsíci +1

      @FreeToSurvivebut it should still be operating?
      Safe or not now 5 people have came out five very serious life changing injuries as result of this and have also stated in an interview that requested the ride to be shut down.

    • @amroge8703
      @amroge8703 Před 3 měsíci

      @@copyer9088, it wasn’t the rides fault. It was human error

    • @copyer9088
      @copyer9088 Před 3 měsíci

      @@amroge8703 your not answering my question! So I’ll ask you again. Should the ride be open after 5 people received life changing injuries and requested it stay closed?

  • @thomaslambert9668
    @thomaslambert9668 Před 3 lety +2

    scared the shit out of me, happened like 2 weeks after i'd been on it

    • @thecinematicmind
      @thecinematicmind Před 3 lety +1

      No exaggeration, 30 minutes before the first announcement of the news reports I posted an image of The Smiler.

    • @TheCurtisdavies
      @TheCurtisdavies Před rokem +1

      @@thecinematicmind why did you do that

  • @rodneytrotter847
    @rodneytrotter847 Před 9 lety +48

    They let unqualified teenagers on minimum wage operate all the rides, I'm amazed this sort of thing doesn't happen more often.

    • @manofthetrees9097
      @manofthetrees9097 Před 9 lety +2

      Maybe a cow wandered across the track?

    • @manofthetrees9097
      @manofthetrees9097 Před 9 lety +3

      Gerard Brunette what the hell has my surname got to do with sex?

    • @ezra2345
      @ezra2345 Před 7 lety +2

      The employee who caused this was 20

    • @AlishaaaSexMe
      @AlishaaaSexMe Před 6 lety +2

      Rodney Trotter is a really good night I

  • @Th3Sm1ler
    @Th3Sm1ler Před 2 lety +4

    “It had serious incidents before”
    When the fuck were the other “serious incidents” before the crash

    • @EMan-vk4ri
      @EMan-vk4ri Před 2 lety +1

      Aside from stalling a few times, none. The only other serious rollercoaster accident before this was the Mine Train's.

    • @copyer9088
      @copyer9088 Před rokem

      There’s been a number of incidents with the ride before this accident so why was the ride operating?

    • @Th3Sm1ler
      @Th3Sm1ler Před rokem

      @@copyer9088 because they were no where near as bad as the crash and besides they closed it for the right amount of times when they happened

  • @gshockbabe6144
    @gshockbabe6144 Před 2 lety +1

    Big apology but you still opened the ride again on the first anniversary of the accident.You should be ashamed of yourself and pay compensation to those kids.

    • @copyer9088
      @copyer9088 Před 3 měsíci +1

      It should be permanently closed following this incident

  • @carlabox457
    @carlabox457 Před 6 lety +12

    They got finned 5m for what what happened. They get 250m a year not much really is it is be doing some more digging if it was me.

  • @Silver-Reece
    @Silver-Reece Před 3 lety +1

    I went on it today lol

  • @itsaweakerslifeashleymissy8204

    What happened.

  • @bastardfingers
    @bastardfingers Před 7 lety +6

    Varney is so good at the innocent tone of voice. I worked for Merlin for
    10 years and know the truth. You'll never find an engineer at any of
    that companies 'attractions' that will go on any of their rides. The law
    should change so that it's not possible to to just buy the silence of
    injured people. Though that would mean Merlin would collapse in

    • @jamesbarton2924
      @jamesbarton2924 Před 6 lety +2

      bastardfingers whats it like working for merlin and what park do u work at

    • @didsthecat1503
      @didsthecat1503 Před rokem

      Agreed, Merlin is an awful company that also bullies it’s staff into silence. I speak from experience

  • @kataokaize
    @kataokaize Před 9 lety +2

    「君子危うきに近寄らず」ですね。くわばら、くわばら。

  • @user-hl3ub1wz5t
    @user-hl3ub1wz5t Před 9 lety +2

    .

  • @montywormald7089
    @montywormald7089 Před rokem

    Meeow

  • @sldorhout1
    @sldorhout1 Před 2 lety +1

    This accident happened due to bad management. For opening the rides they gather points. So to the managent it's crucial that all the rides are open as much as possible. That day there was too much wind that had an effect on the ride speed of the Smiler, and caused to stall. Employee ignored the lock system....and that's simply explained how this could have occured. People's lives have been damaged severly. Managemnt should have been fired for not taking the safety restriction seriously and making staff trained and aware of their duties in this case. The ride it self should have been taken down (out of respect). Pretty tastless to let it be and don't care about it.....Still think this is a mayor misstep from Alton Towers.

    • @LadnamedWallace
      @LadnamedWallace Před rokem +2

      Why should it be taken down out of respect? They paid out £5,000,000 and showed every level of empathy you'd expect. Taking down a 2 year old rollercoaster that was their most expensive investment isn't exactly going to be a bright idea after having to give out £5,000,000.

    • @sldorhout1
      @sldorhout1 Před rokem

      @@LadnamedWallace It wasn't a bright idea to run the thing despite the warnings in the first place....of course this isn't benneficial for Alton Towers...but that's not what I'm about. It's tastless regardless the pay off to keep it. It 's a kick in the back. Besides that Alton has some ridiculous pricing....and haven't invested in some rides for a looooooong time . And even mentioning the bad operation etc. They need to get their stuff together, and don't play the victim. They can afford a good new ride.....they could have sold it to another themepark. That would reduce the damage a little bit.

    • @LadnamedWallace
      @LadnamedWallace Před rokem +5

      @@sldorhout1 What are you talking about? Unfortunately that isn't the way the world works. If the Smiler was removed, it would have been not only a loss of £5,000,000, but an investment of £18,000,000 thrown out after two years. It would have probably resulted in the downfall and eventual closure of the park. That would have been literal suicide. Selling it to a theme park just is pointless. The piece of engineering that resulted in them being severely injured would still be operating, just in a different colour or name. £5,000,000 is more than enough compensation.
      You're also talking about they haven't invested in rides in a long time, their most recent ROLLERCOASTER was 4 years ago. They are in the works of completely retracking Nemesis, which is going to cost only slightly less than the original coaster (not including the rockworks, just the coaster in itself).
      Of course there will be a slight distaste from the victims because it wasn't closed down, but the overwhelming opinion and demand was NOT for it be closed. The courts deemed £5,000,000 enough and didn't cite any form of idea of taking down the ride. Merlin handled the Smiler crash incredibly, and they deserve nothing but respect for how it was handled. Not every decision in life can be made by emotions solely.

    • @sldorhout1
      @sldorhout1 Před rokem

      @@LadnamedWallace I do get your point ....but let's not forget a tasteless remark like: "not even a crash will stop me from wanting to ride"...says everything about the reputation of the ride /parc...besides that Merlin Entertainment is a big company...so I don't see it finacially falling apart. The coaster that replaced the logflume is very nice. I must give you cudos for that. Still I don't think Alton Towers handled this good. Just washing your hands clean at this interview while he should have known about the facts ( but didn't care until the accident)....still think this ride attracts people with the wrong reaction.......

    • @LadnamedWallace
      @LadnamedWallace Před rokem +2

      @@sldorhout1 How does one persons remark about their enthusiasm for rollercoasters infer the reputation for a specific park? What reputation? They've had absolutely nothing like the Smiler crash both before and after. It doesn't matter if Merlin Entertainments is a big company. Parks get different budgets and investment money depending on popularity, profits, etc. Just because it has a big parent company doesn't mean shutting down an £18,000,000 ride after two years isn't going to have catastrophic effects on the park.
      Again, "he should have known the facts"- he probably did know quite a lot of what was happening. Believe it or not, a CEO for a company doesn't want to start publicising a version of events without it being concrete when its such a serious occurrence. I really don't see your point at all other than you feel personally that the ride should have been shut down because of the crash. I would have agreed if it was a technical failure, and not down to human ignorance.