Alton Towers owner Merlin fined £5million over Smiler rollercoaster crash

Jamie Micklethwaite27 September 2016

Alton Towers operator Merlin Attractions has been fined £5million for health and safety breaches over the Smiler rollercoaster crash.

Teenagers Vicky Balch, then 19, and Leah Washington, then 17, each lost a leg in the tragic incident in June last year.

Stafford Crown Court heard the victims watched with "disbelief and horror" before ploughing into an empty carriage on the track, with the impact likened to a 90mph car crash.

Merlin was fined after the court heard an engineer "felt pressure" to get Smiler back into service after it developed a fault shortly before the devastating crash.

An expert witness report, compiled by consultant Stephen Flanagan, also said Alton Towers management linked bonuses to "acceptably low levels of downtime" on their rollercoasters.

Judge Michael Chambers QC called the accident a "catastrophic failure" by the company involving basic health and safety measures.

He also said the “absolute shambles of what occurred” could have been easily avoided” by a suitable system to deal with ride faults and a proper risk assessment.

Absolute shambles: Judge Chambers blasted Merlin owner Nick Varney for the incident
Chris Radburn/PA Wire

He added: "This was a needless and avoidable accident in which those injured were fortunate not to have been killed or bled to death."

According to Judge Chambers, the victims “endured great pain and distress” while waiting for medical help, with the first 999 call not made until 17 minutes after the crash.

Victim: Leah Washington arriving at Stafford Crown Court
Rui Vieira/PA Wire

It took up to five hours for them to be freed from the wreckage, with those at the front of the rollercoaster having their legs crushed in the tangled steel.

All 16 people aboard the carriage suffered injuries to various degrees.

Crushed: Vicky Balch lost her leg after the accident
PA

Judge Chambers added that the relatives and the injured had shown "great courage and fortitude" in the aftermath.

Beginning the sentencing, He said: "Human error was not the cause as was suggested by the defendant in an early press release.

Serious risk: An absence of structure contributed to the incident 
Joe Giddens/PA Wire

"The defendant now accepts the prosecution case that the underlying fault was an absence of a structured and considered system not that of individuals' efforts, doing their best within a flawed system.

"Members of the public have been exposed to serious risk of one train colliding with another with a computer control system was reset, having been overridden to address a fault."

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