Tornado at Scotland's Theme Park gets stuck

[snoflake15]

Here's a report from the local newspaper from June 20 (not online). What a lame ride to get stuck on.

 

"Thrill-seekers at a theme park in Lanarkshire had to be rescued by firefighters at the top of a roller coaster. High winds forced an emergency breaking system to kick in on the Tornado ride - leaving 6 people stuck at the top for almost an hour as staff called in the emergency services.

 

The Evening Times spoke to John Wheatley College employee Nancy Stevenson, 38, as she remained 40ft up awaiting rescue.

 

Nancy who was on a work day out said "I'm terrified of heights. We've been here for almost an hour. The fire brigade are here but we are waiting on a lift to get us down."

 

Fire crews did eventually manage to rescue the unfortunate ride-goers.

 

With her feet firmly on the ground Nancy said "I'm still in shock. The fire brigade were brillliant but I'm never going on a ride like that again."

 

An M&D's spokeswoman said "No passengers were injured and the ride will remain closed until allsafety checks have been completed".

 

In 2006 a man was trapped upside down at M & D's for an hour when a ride jammed and in 2005 six people including a 10 year old boy were stuck 65ft up in the air on a ride.

[Keasbey Nights]

That is awfully scary, but I'm glad that they weren't trapped in an inversion or something. The fire brigade did a tremendous job with a hasty rescue; I recall people being trapped for 3 to 4 hours (of course, that may have been on a higher ride).

[snoflake15]

Deja Vu....

http://stv.tv/news/west-central/1347900-firefighters-rescue-riders-from-broken-down-rollercoaster/

Firefighters are rescuing eight people from a roller coaster which has broken down at M&D's theme park.

 

The riders were stuck around 20ft off the ground on the ride, called Tornado, for up to half an hour during the incident on Saturday afternoon.

 

The fire service used a cherry picker to remove the riders from the attraction in North Lanarkshire. No one was injured.

 

A fire service spokesman said shortly before 4pm that they had removed most of the riders.

 

The spokesman said: "We are working with on site staff using a cherry picker to remove members of the public from the rollercoaster."

 

The theme park's website says that "riders are taken on a whirlwind journey" on the Tornado, which is M&D's biggest rollercoaster.

[beatle11]

This ride is near the bottom of every Mitch Hawker poll there is. That being said, it sounds as if the safety system kicked in exactly as it was supposed to on both occasions.

[RideWoodenCoasters]

Wind and cold helping to valley a 40% full train?

[snoflake15]

It is a truly awful coaster. So much so I always miss it out even though it's my local park.

 

The weather has been pretty bad. Why anyone would ride it in this weather, let alone ever, is a mystery to me.