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Serious Incident at Oakwood Theme Park

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RECEOTOR 17

Roller Poster
An Air Ambulance has been deployed to Oakwood in Pembrokeshire, Wales.

Rumours of it being a fatality but no confirmation of that as of yet.

Very sombre mood in the Park as peeps were evacuated from the site.
 
Oh no. I’d imagine an air ambulance is “routine” in that neck of the woods due to accessibility? Whatever happened, hopefully the injured person makes a recovery and it doesn’t have too much of a negative affect on the park.
 
It’s said to have been something to do with Treetops… the air ambulance has been called, and one person was taken away in it. The HSE have begun an investigation, and it has been confirmed that someone has been taken to hospital. A BBC Wales source described the incident as “serious”.

For what it’s worth, the whole park was evacuated at 1pm.

My thoughts go out to those affected.
 
The amount of theme park accidents in this country over the past few years has been absolutely staggering. I'm seriously starting to question how I can continue to reassure friends/family that rides are indeed fully safe... thoughts to all involved.
 
Having in mind accidents this year there seems to be an increase of those on family rides which one at first thought don't think about as overly dangerous: The Dragon at Legoland Germany, the Gerst Bobsled at Klotten and now a Zierer Tivoli....
 
James W said:
The amount of theme park accidents in this country over the past few years has been absolutely staggering. I'm seriously starting to question how I can continue to reassure friends/family that rides are indeed fully safe... thoughts to all involved.
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4 UK 'theme park' accidents in the last 5 years listed in the CF database, and the lightwater valley incident in 2019... (That for some reason isn't listed in the CF database still.) None of them resulting in death.

You might be being a little dramatic, considering how many die on my local dual carriageway every single year!
 
Ian said:
Oh no. I’d imagine an air ambulance is “routine” in that neck of the woods due to accessibility? Whatever happened, hopefully the injured person makes a recovery and it doesn’t have too much of a negative affect on the park.
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We do get them for the highly serious stuff, like RTCs or head injuries if it's too slow by land ambulance (nearest one to Oakwood is 20-30 mins away and is soon going to close). This one's very likely to be a expedition to keep alive.

If Treetops was involved, I wonder if the guest was leaning out or similar as it hasn't had many incidents in its decades of use. Big concern here atop the welfare of the poor guest is whether this is a death knell for the park.

Truth will out soon enough. Dyfed Powys Police are due to release a statement shortly.
 
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Fingers crossed that the person recovers speedily and fully.

Seems like this will be another nail in Oakwood's coffin. It has been picked up by most major outlets pretty quickly.
 
Nicky Borrill said:
4 UK 'theme park' accidents in the last 5 years listed in the CF database, and the lightwater valley incident in 2019... (That for some reason isn't listed in the CF database still.) None of them resulting in death.
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Was there another accident at Lightwater in 2019 other than the one that's listed?

accidents2019.jpg
 
My local park, hope the injured person will be OK.

Latest BBC article quotes a witness:
She said: "My husband said he heard people screaming in the carriages at the back.

"He turned around and saw a girl aged about 14 screaming, 'Stop'. A man in the carriage with her had been thrown out.

"It looked like the last few carriages were loose and wobbling. He'd been thrown out (and) other passengers were holding the carriage because it had become a bit loose."

She said the accident happened at the bottom of the first descent which she said meant people would not have been more than six or seven feet off the ground.

People including staff, an ambulance technician and a nurse came to help, Ms Lloyd said.

She added: "People looked pretty shaken up. We talked to one family and we were saying we didn't want to go on any other rides.

"An air ambulance arrived 15 to 20 minutes later."

She said the park stayed open for between another hour and an hour and a half before visitors were asked to leave.
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www.bbc.co.uk

Pembrokeshire: Oakwood closed after accident on ride

Wales Air Ambulance was seen taking the patient from the Pembrokeshire park on Sunday afternoon.
www.bbc.co.uk
 
James W said:
The amount of theme park accidents in this country over the past few years has been absolutely staggering. I'm seriously starting to question how I can continue to reassure friends/family that rides are indeed fully safe... thoughts to all involved.
Click to expand...
One thing I would say is that while any accident is of course terrible and shouldn’t happen (one accident is one too many), our hobby is still, relatively speaking, incredibly safe. Accidents in the theme park industry are freak events that really don’t happen very often at all, and major accidents that result in serious injury or death are even rarer.

For some idea:
I’m not saying that theme park accidents are to be brushed aside by any means; one accident is one too many, and theme parks need to entertain as safely as possible.

However, my point is; if you think you’re taking your life into your hands by going on a theme park ride, goodness knows what you’re doing by going on the roads to drive to the park. Take solace in the fact that theme park accidents are still major news; that must surely speak volumes about how rare they are.
 
Nicky Borrill said:
4 UK 'theme park' accidents in the last 5 years listed in the CF database, and the lightwater valley incident in 2019... (That for some reason isn't listed in the CF database still.) None of them resulting in death.

You might be being a little dramatic, considering how many die on my local dual carriageway every single year!
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(+ @Matt N as your new post overlapped with me writing this one)

We should expect (and demand) far higher statistical safety for amusement rides compared to road accidents, considering how non-dynamic ride operations are compared with the complexity of different individuals driving different machines (at the same time).

I don’t think it’s a good comparable.
 
Nitefly said:
(+ @Matt N as your new post overlapped with me writing this one)

We should expect (and demand) far higher statistical safety for amusement rides compared to road accidents, considering how non-dynamic ride operations are compared with the complexity of different individuals driving different machines (at the same time).

I don’t think it’s a good comparable.
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You’re not wrong. There is far less room for error in amusement ride operation, and far less people go on amusement rides than drive cars, therefore accidents are bound to be less common.

However, my point was more that there are things far more dangerous than going on theme park rides that people do every day without even flinching, and I don’t just include driving cars in that statement.

With that in mind, I’d argue that theme parks are, on the whole, a very safe form of entertainment and riding rides is generally an extremely safe thing to do.
 
First off let me express my hope that the injured party is ok. No one should go for fun at an amusement park and end up in hospital.

"It looked like the last few carriages were loose and wobbling. He'd been thrown out (and) other passengers were holding the carriage because it had become a bit loose."
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This is beginning to sound like a hardware failure and possibly a maintenance issue. The parks feels like it's been struggling for a very long time and this isn't going to help.
 
Matt N said:
You’re not wrong. There is far less room for error in amusement ride operation, and far less people go on amusement rides than drive cars, therefore accidents are bound to be less common.

However, my point was more that there are things far more dangerous than going on theme park rides that people do every day without even flinching, and I don’t just include driving cars in that statement.

With that in mind, I’d argue that theme parks are, on the whole, a very safe form of entertainment and riding rides is generally an extremely safe thing to do.
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From a certain perspective I agree, but I see it more like this:

- theme parks should be safe;

- being safe requires diligent design, construction, operation, guest-supervision and maintenance;

- we rely on the diligence of those that design, construct, operate and maintain theme parks for our safety;

- as guests our personal responsibility is limited to obeying basic safety precautions when riding;

- there is inevitably some risk with going to theme parks as is the case with anything.

^^^I understand that the point you are making is the final bullet-point above. But there is scope for theme parks to be very dangerous if those persons responsible for safety, including guests, don’t pull their weight.

Nobody in this thread has said anything along these lines, but from time to time I do read comments online along the lines of “theme parks are absolutely safe”, “that accident happened ages ago, we need to move on” or even “yawn - don’t bring up the accident”. I find these comments misplaced - it’s glossing over and/or ignoring reality.
 
Nitefly said:
From a certain perspective I agree, but I see it more like this:

- theme parks should be safe;

- being safe requires diligent design, construction, operation, guest-supervision and maintenance;

- we rely on the diligence of those that design, construct, operate and maintain theme parks for our safety;

- as guests our personal responsibility is limited to obeying basic safety precautions when riding;

- there is inevitably some risk with going to theme parks as is the case with anything.

^^^I understand that the point you are making is the final bullet-point above. But there is scope for theme parks to be very dangerous if those persons responsible for safety, including guests, don’t pull their weight.

Nobody in this thread has said anything along these lines, but from time to time I do read comments online along the lines of “theme parks are absolutely safe”, “that accident happened ages ago, we need to move on” or even “yawn - don’t bring up the accident”. I find these comments misplaced - it’s glossing over and/or ignoring reality.
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Oh, absolutely. I’m not pretending for a second that theme park safety is inherent or something that simply exists by nature; theme parks are as safe as they are because of the hefty H&S protocols in place and the assumed diligence of those who design and operate theme park rides.

If that diligence did not exist, then of course theme parks would be far less safe.

However, the safety protocols and checks in place ensure that that diligence does exist in 99.9% of cases, and the vast, vast majority of theme parks are incredibly safe. The chances of getting hurt on a ride are incredibly slim. The chances of being seriously injured or killed are even lower.

As I said, I personally take solace in the fact that theme park accidents, when they occur, are big news events. If they were even vaguely common, then they would not generate anywhere near the same media storm.
 
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