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The Smiler Incident 02/06/2015


Ian-S

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I think that following the recent Thomas Cook news stories, Merlin are ensuring that they don't do the same thing.

By instantly apologising for the accident and owning up to full responsiblity, they are reducing the long term damage

to their brand, by comparison, if they tried to deny responsiblity and pass it on to other parties, whilst they could potential

pay out less in the injury cases that will stem from this tragic accident, the long term effect on their business will be devastating, 

gate figures would decrease exponentially, and overall brand trust would collapse. I do respect them for what they're doing,

it looks a lot better on them, than the recent case at Thomas Cook looked to Thomas Cook.

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I have to say, the way Merlin have handled this situation has been extremely professional and thoughtful. Not once have they done a Six Flags and tried to shift they blame, they have acted with the utmost integrity. Actively instructing the injured to take legal action is not something I ever thought we'd see in this country, let alone from Merlin.

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I have to say, the way Merlin have handled this situation has been extremely professional and thoughtful. Not once have they done a Six Flags and tried to shift they blame, they have acted with the utmost integrity. Actively instructing the injured to take legal action is not something I ever thought we'd see in this country, let alone from Merlin.

 

So it is in times like this when I feel proud to be a UK enthusiast, supporting Merlin, a company which clearly has empath y. All of this has certainly ranked them higher up in my books.

 

I couldn't agree more - the way that Merlin have handled the entire events throughout has been amazing.  Really felt for Nick Varney having to deal with that vile woman on Sky News.  You could see he was upset by what had happened, and unless he is a bloody good actor then it shows real compassion where other companies wouldn't.

 

I always thought that Merlin were a bit tight and money grabbing (which, to a certain extent they have to be as they are a business) but my thoughts have changed a lot on that.  Not once have they tried to pass the blame or shirk responsibility and as well as compensating the injured which will happen in due time, they have also been generous to the general public (giving away free tickets at Alton Towers to go back another time for example).  Credit where credit is due

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11406819_880202875383491_871144508025601

And on a less important note, all merchandise of a certain ride had disappeared. Wise move IMO

There's slightly amusing irony in that photo, the smiler logo's on the walls indicate what was originally there, and the merchandise that's been put in it's place to replace it, is for a ride still closed (because of it's location).

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Glad yesterday seemed to go smoothly and the press resisted going to the park with 'zomg, a ride has routeenly broken down, will everyone die' reports every time nothing happened. Hopefully the circus has moved on now, the injured can start their recovery in peace, and the park can get back to normal. I'd think that is pretty much the last we'll hear of it now until one of those involved sell their story or the report into the cause is released.

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Glad yesterday seemed to go smoothly and the press resisted going to the park with 'zomg, a ride has routeenly broken down, will everyone die' reports every time nothing happened. Hopefully the circus has moved on now, the injured can start their recovery in peace, and the park can get back to normal. I'd think that is pretty much the last we'll hear of it now until one of those involved sell their story or the report into the cause is released.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/alton-towers-hit-more-problems-5847745

Unfortunately not quite!

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Several minutes..... Major facepalm... I can just see a new Alton towers news story every week now for the rest of the season with stories 10 minute breakdowns, its actually pathetic! An insult to the actual incident which is the only one that should be shown on the news...

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Does anybody know what "enhanced procedures" has meant so far on the other Merlin coasters? Towers Times reported that yesterday trains were not being sent until the other (all coasters only running 2) had fully returned to the brakes. 

 

If this is the permanent solution then that's a bit of a bummer and a massive over reaction.

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Does anybody know what "enhanced procedures" has meant so far on the other Merlin coasters? Towers Times reported that yesterday trains were not being sent until the other (all coasters only running 2) had fully returned to the brakes. 

 

If this is the permanent solution then that's a bit of a bummer and a massive over reaction.

That's how they've been running Vampire at Cheesy all year, my understanding is the second train can and should be dispatched once the first train has cleared the second lift hill, not once it's returned the station entrance. This has resulted in queues of 90+ minutes even on off-peak days.

I dread to think what the queues are going to be like on rides such as Fury and Rattlesnake if they employ this method of dispatch.

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Presumably they're not willing to apply that rule to Fury, Spinball and Rattlesnake, which is why they're all still closed.

 

Hopefully they can get a more permanent solution worked out, as Air and Thirteen will both have substantially longer waits otherwise (though I wouldn't particularly expect either to be running 3 trains during the week anyway).

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