People on the Smiler ride at Alton Towers were stuck for more than half an hour on Thursday after a stoppage on the same rollercoaster that crashed last year leaving five people seriously injured.
Two Smiler carriages, carrying 32 people, became stuck when theme park workers made an emergency stop on Thursday afternoon. An Alton Towers spokesperson said nobody was hurt and the the ride was safely evacuated.
The incident comes 15 months after two Smiler carriages collided, seriously injuring five people, two of whom needed leg amputations. The £18m ride was only reopened in March.
The carriages had been stopped so that staff could investigate claims that a piece of debris had fallen from the ride while it was in motion.
“At no time were guests on the ride at any risk and all were safely removed from the ride promptly by staff in line with our comprehensive standard procedures,” the spokesperson said. “As the health and safety of our guests is our priority, the ride will remain closed whilst the resort’s technical team investigate the matter.” The ride was later reopened at about 4.20pm.
Images on social media appeared to show the ride in a stationary position on its way up a vertical track, with people in their seats facing skywards.
Liam Dennett, 33, from Cheltenham, was in the queue for the ride when an announcement was made about a technical fault. He posted videos on Facebook showing people stuck on the rollercoaster.
Dennett said: “The ride’s still closed now. We can see it in the distance that it’s still closed. I would say it was between 30 and probably 35-40 minutes that they were stuck for.”
He said he would not go on the ride after seeing what happened. “My son still wants to go on it, but I wouldn’t go on it personally now,” he said.
Merlin Entertainments, the company which owns the Staffordshire theme park, faces a potential multimillion pound fine later this month after it pleaded guilty to breaking health and safety laws over the Smiler crash last June.
After an internal investigation, Merlin Entertainments said in November that the crash was a result of human error because an operator decided to override a safety system. Sentencing will take place on 26 September.
