Serious personal injury was narrowly avoided by a thirteen year old schoolgirl, after she fell a distance of four metres from a fairground attraction.
The youngster who asked not to be named, was a passenger on the ‘Cliffhanger Miami Trip’ ride at the annual Copmanthorpe Carnival, in York, when a restraint bar malfunctioned causing her to slip out of her seat and plunge four metres to the concrete floor below.
Fortunately, the young girl suffered relatively minor injuries but was taken to hospital as a precaution, where she was treated for cuts, bruises and abrasions.
Twenty eight year old fairground attendant, Terry Reynolds, of Dewsbury, had been informed about the dodgy restraint bar by a previous passenger, who narrowly escaped a similar fate after managing to hold the bar down with the assistance of some of her friends, according to an investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
Admitting a breach of the Health and Safety at Work Act Mr. Reynolds of Showman’s Ground, received a three year conditional discharge and was ordered to pay the young girl £750 in personal injury compensation.
After the court hearing a HSE inspector stated that ‘it beggared belief’ that the attendant failed to check the restraint despite being warned about the faulty safety device by another fairground visitor.