A 12-year-old boy fell from the ride, suffering serious but non life-threatening injuries. Onlookers saw the child trying to cling on to the Excalibur 2 ride at Camelot Theme Park near Chorley, Lancashire before losing his grip and falling to the ground.
A woman reportedly has told how she clung on to a theme park ride by her hands and feet fearing she was going to fall out - days before a child plunged 30ft from the same ride. Charmaine, who lives in Bridge Terrace, Walton-le-Dale, near Preston, and went on the ride with Chloe, said: “I almost fell out. “I was holding on with my arms, feet, ankles, everything. I couldn’t believe it. I just felt myself coming right out of the side and there was nothing to protect me if I’d have let go. “They had an overhead thing that comes over you and a silver bar comes over the whole row to make you feel secure. “But my overhead thing didn’t actually come as close as I wanted it to. I felt as if I was going to come out. I was slipping through the bars. “I’m a rollercoaster fanatic and I’m not afraid of heights but this was just extreme. “I should have said something (to staff) that day but I just thought that was what the ride was supposed to be like.”
Another woman, Valerie Willis, 48, said she warned Camelot and Health and Safety bosses the ride was dangerous 10 years ago. She said: “I seriously thought I would come out of it. I had to keep pulling myself up on the bars. “I said sooner or later there would be an accident but they insisted it was safe. I’m absolutely appalled.
The Health and Safety Executive has launched an inquiry into the accident.
The Excalibur 2 ride is an Evolution-type rotation ride manufactured by Italy-based Fabbri Group.
Roy Page, chief executive of Knights Leisure Limited which operates Camelot, said: “At this stage, we do not know the full extent of the injuries sustained and our thoughts are with the young boy and his family. “Until we have more information to hand, it would be inappropriate to make any further comment.” The park has said, “Every ride undergoes a daily, pre-opening safety and maintenance check throughout the season and is subject to an annual, independent safety inspection".
