Alton Towers Smiler Ride Stalls Leaving People Stranded At 100ft Over Ground

Jul 28, 2019 by apost team

Since the opening of the "Smiler" ride at the U.K.'s prestigious rollercoaster park, Alton Towers in 2013, the ride has been plagued by problems.

The "Smiler" ride is a record-breaker for the 18 loops the rollercoaster includes as it moves through its journey every few minutes at the best-known rollercoaster park in the U.K. Last Tuesday, July 23 saw the latest issue for the rollercoaster as it came to a stop midway through a ride during the first weeks of the U.K.'s school vacation period.

A video taken by a visitor at the park shows the rollercoaster stuck mid-air in a vertical position. The riders were reportedly stuck for 20 minutes before engineers were able to reverse the carriage and let the passengers off the ride. 

apost.com

Dylan Fryers, who was on the ride when it suddenly stopped spoke to the Sun about the ordeal.

 “I was with my two friends when the ride suddenly stopped as it was going up the vertical part. We didn’t know what had happened and we weren’t moving.

“Two carriages go around the ride at the same time so I was worried that the other one might collide into us, but my friend told me the other carriage was at the bottom and it wasn’t coming towards us.”

In response to the incident, a spokesperson made a public statement which was obtained by the same publication. 

“We apologize to all guests affected by the stoppage on The Smiler late this afternoon."

“Our guest relations team have spoken to everyone on board to offer return tickets to the park as compensation for the inconvenience."

“Our technical team is working to reset the ride this evening so this should not affect guests visiting the park tomorrow.”

The same rollercoaster had previously experienced problems in 2015 when one of its carriages filled with passengers traveling at 52mph collided with another which was still. The incident left five riders seriously injured with two of them, Vicky Balch and Leah Washington, having legs amputated. 

Are you a rollercoaster fan? Would you ride the "Smiler" knowing the chequered history of the ride and its latest problems? Let us know in the comments below - and make sure you pass this along to your friends and family!