Reporting Ride Injuries

Here's a copy of a letter I received about a woman whose daughter wa sinjured on a ride at Rotunda Amusement Park in the UK:

"My daughter visted Rotunda yesterday (Sunday 10th August), and I am afraid that she suffered quite a serious injury. She accomanyed her yougest child who is only two years old down the Helter Skelter, as obvioulsy it would not have been safe to allow her daughter to go down the slide her self.

She placed her child on her lap, but as they started to pick up speed, she experianced a burning sensation, and when she looked down she notcied that the top layer of skin on her thigh had been taken off. In a vain attempt to pull her self away from the side all she ended up doing was adding to her injury, becuse she ended up with all her armpit being bruised, plus she suffered another cut on her other knee whilst trying to pull herslef over to the middle. When she got to the bottom and came off the slide there was absolutley no one there to complain too.

I cannot help thinking that if one of the other children had attempted to go down this slide the injuries could have been far worse.

I think that it is absolutley dissgraceful that there was nobody to complain too, I must say however if I had been with my daughter, I would have made sure I made a complaint before leaving the park no matter how long it took to find someone.

I chose to register on this site so I could warn other people of the dangers of this park, and also in the hope that maybe you or someone else could give me a contact address or phone number so I can make a formal complaint. I notice that it is a rented, but surley there must be some record of who owns what rides etc."

I've visited this park my self earlier in the year and cannot believe how apalling the place has become.

If you are injured on a ride, and there is no guest services or first aid, what are you supposed to do?

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Coaster Grotto - Over 1,000 coaster photos and 80 theme park reviews now online!

That sounds highly unusual.

Contact Rep. Ed Markey.

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Is that a Q-bot in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?

I would think any park employee wether they are a ride op, mechanic, or sweeper they "should" be able to direct a person to first aid or guest relations. It's a little tough to believe there were no employees in the park. There must have been some person to or some way to contact the right person. A park map, phonebook, or website must have some kind of contact information.

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Signature will be closed today. Sorry for the inconveinance.

Yeah, right, smartass (General Public)...

Anyway, I believe amusement rides in the United Kingdom are regulated at least in part by the Health and Safety Executive (http://www.hse.gov.uk). I don't know if that's the controlling legal authority, but it would be a logical place to start.

This particular injury should probably be identified as a patron error which should have been prevented by an alert operator. Friction burns are a well-known problem on slides (I believe this is a spiral slide?) and the operator should have made certain that the rider was properly positioned on the mat and that the mat was placed properly to protect the rider at all contact points. The rider should also have been warned NOT TO TOUCH THE SLIDE.

And the park should most certainly have at least a first-aid office!

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

(edit: CoasterPunk snuck a reply in while I was typing...)
*** This post was edited by RideMan 8/11/2003 3:59:40 PM ***

coasterpunk, this is not a quality park we're talking about, when I visited earlier in the year, only a handful of rides were operating, I doubt they even have guest relations or first aid anymore. The park is due to close at the end of the season and someone is just renting it and operating a few rides.

I gave the woman a contact number for the park, so maybe that will go through to whoever is in charge.

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Coaster Grotto - Over 1,000 coaster photos and 80 theme park reviews now online!

It must be a pretty bad park if they are only operating a few rides. I can actually believe it now after finding out that they are closing at the end of the season.

Is there any chance of the slide an side friction coaster being saved after the park closes? That slide had to be the insperation for the lighthouse slide in RCT!

After doing a search these are the only good pics I found of the park. http://www.themeparkreview.com/eco/rotunda/rotunda1.htm

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Signature will be closed today. Sorry for the inconveinance.

I have pics of this park from last summer's ECO tour, at http://www.gregleg.com/coastershrine/Rotunda/


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--Greg, aka Oat Boy
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"What do you want, you moon-faced assassin of joy?" -- Londo Mollari, Babylon 5

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