Children Stranded in Skegness Amusement Ride Breakdown
Gloom on the Flume
Two young girls were left stranded as a Skegness amusement park ride came to an abrupt halt today.
The Water River Ride at Botton’s Pleasure Beach in Skegness had been temporarily closed down at the height of Bank Holiday, as what appeared to be emergency repairs were carried out on the water flume.
The ride was soon reopened but the carriages began sticking again, and the two girls, who appeared to be around 8-10 years old were left stranded on top of the ride.
Far from panicking, the children appeared to be enjoying their ‘extra time’, and when the carriages were eventually set in motion, they alighted apparently no worse for wear!
Video of the Water Flume Breakdown
The image below is the original newspaper article taken from the Skegness Standard as it reported the Sky Ride amusement park ride getting stuck in 1975. See the comments below for this discussion.
The girls weren’t exactly stranded were they? The staff dealt with the standard break down accordingly and they weren’t in harms way at all. Log flumes have sensors to stop the boats getting closer than a safe distance apart. Still, I love the over sensational headline, it could come right from the pages of the Daily Fail that one.
Thank you for your comment, Chris. The word ’stranded’ seems to be generally used when persons are in a car on an amusement park ride when it gets stuck.
I turn your attention to the image of the Skegness Standard (above)as it reported the Sky Ride getting stuck in 1975, saying “Two other people were left stranded on the 30-foot high Sky Ride when it stopped…”
You may want to also check out this headline from the UK Independent Newspaper – “Breakdown leaves 28 stranded on park ride” http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/breakdown-leaves-28-stranded-on-park-ride-675473.html The article goes on to say “”The train set off as normal but failed to make a complete circuit. The train stopped at a low point and people were left stranded about 10-12 feet off the ground.”
Googling “stranded on amusement park ride” will produce several more examples.
I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to cause any offence, but just wanted to point out that the ride is safe, and like you said in the later section of the article the girls were perfectly fine and not in any danger.
Other than that, it’s great to see someone covering news related to Botton’s.
Not at all, Chris, by the way – you may be interested in this post about when the Rockin Roller was constructed: http://skegnessvideo.com/2007/06/rockin-roller-bottons-skegness/