First footage released from Alton Towers Smiler crash

Footage shows moment Smiler crashed ‘with force of 90mph car’ at Alton Towers --- Footage has been released showing the moment five people suffered life changing injuries while on the Smiler rollercoaster at Alton Towers. Operator Merlin was at fault for crash despite ‘human errors’ which left two teenagers needing leg amputations and several other passengers seriously hurt, a court has heard. Merlin Attractions Operations Ltd had already been warned by a judge earlier this year to expect a very large fine for admitting a health and safety breach which led to a carriage on the £18 million ride smashing into an empty car. On Monday, several of those left trapped on the ride following the crash in June last year attended the start of what is scheduled to be a two-day sentencing hearing at Stafford Crown Court. Opening the case, barrister Bernard Thorogood said the kinetic energy involved in the crash on June 2 2015 was equivalent to ‘a family car of 1.5 tons having collided at about 90mph’. Mr Thorogood said there was a ‘frustration of those on the train that those on the ground did not grasp the enormity of the injuries’ suffered by those on the ride. The court heard that the collision between the two carriages took place at 1.51pm, with the first 999 call made 17 minutes later at 2.08pm. A community responder was on site at 2.09pm, a helicopter arrived by 2.37pm and the police at 2.57pm. Reference was also made to previous convictions against Merlin, which included a fine of £300,000 issued at Warwick Crown Court in April 2012 after the death of a person at Warwick Castle, over a separate health and safety breach. In February 2013, a magistrates’ court fined the company more than £20,000 after a worker fell from a walkway at Legoland in Windsor, Berkshire. | Metro News via IFTTT

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