The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Families of girls hurt on rollercoaster suing firm
Landmark Adventure Park is being sued after two young girls were injured when a rollercoaster derailed at the attraction.
Families of the girls have spoken out about the August 2021 incident, and say they hope court action against park bosses, Visitor Centres Ltd, will reveal what went wrong and help improve safety at other parks.
The organisation told The Press and Journal today it was “surprised” to be included in legal proceedings, and said it was let down by an unnamed rollercoaster maintenance company.
Digby Brown Solicitors is representing the families and said there is “available evidence to show there were gaps in the safety process”.
Partner Mairi Day said: “It is only right that those responsible are held to account.”
Previously, The P&J reported how theme park goers heard a “massive bang” after the crash.
Emergency services were called to the attraction near Carrbridge when the Runaway Timber Train crashed with 24 people on board. In 2022, it was confirmed the rollercoaster would not reopen.
Speaking for the first time, the father of one of the girls recalled the trauma of seeing his daughter caught up in the derailment.
The dad, who is not being named, said: “Me and the other parents could only look and shout as we saw our girls bashed around and thrown about while stuck inside the carriage.
“After about 30 seconds it all stopped with the carriage sort of hanging off the side. We could see our daughters were terrified and in pain but there was nothing we could do while they were trapped there.
“I genuinely thought my girl was going to die.”
Digby Brown say X-rays of the girls confirmed significant whiplash injuries.
Both girls, who are from the Borders, recovered but still get anxiety symptoms and flashbacks, the firm says.
The mother of the second injured girl added: “It was terrifying to feel so helpless when you know your child is in distress – I still feel that pain and anxiety today.
“The theme park told us nothing afterwards and neither has the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
“Here we are, three years later, and we are still being ignored – it’s all ludicrous and, frankly, does little to inspire trust or confidence.”
An HSE spokesperson said yesterday: “We carried out a thorough criminal investigation which has now concluded. The threshold for prosecution is extremely high, and was not met on this occasion.
“We took enforcement action against another company relating to the testing of the ride.”
Digby Brown say Landmark bosses deny liability and argue the rollercoaster maintenance company is to blame.
Court papers allege the park received a safety alert in February 2014 from the rollercoaster maker when a potential crack in the main support shaft connected to the wheels was spotted after previous incidents in England and India.
Digby Brown says there is no evidence of the park acting on this warning.
But Visitor Centres Ltd insists it “acted” swiftly following the safety alert.
A spokesperson said: “The park passed the industry safety alert to the specialist contractor who confirmed the annual Non Destructive Testing (NDT) which had already taken place that year was sufficient, and no additional action was required.”
They explained NDT is a legal requirement which must be done every 12 months in accordance with industry guidance.
“This is a specialist process which is carried out by an independent contractor, who must be approved by the industry body. The contractor we used came highly recommended by our industry body,” they added.
The spokesperson said that they “very much regret this incident occurred”.
They reiterated that the HSE investigation resulted in no enforcement action, and that they carried out their own investigation.
They said it confirmed the defect which contributed to the accident should “been detected by a specialist contractor” during an annual inspection.
They said: “We provided an independent expert report to Digby Brown in December 2022 confirming the outcome of our investigation. We have heard nothing further from Digby Brown subsequently and are therefore surprised to be included in the court action which we will robustly defend.
“We note that Digby Brown have also raised court action against the specialist contractor.
“We were not placed under any restrictions regarding the operation of the rollercoaster following the accident. However, we made the decision not to operate the rollercoaster on our site following the accident and it is no longer on site.”