June 5, 201510 yr comment_210650 Cowa rides were only shut so they can employ new polices for all there multi car roller coasters Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk I'm not saying you're wrong here, but this isn't necessarily correct information.You're taking words from the national newspapers or Nick Varney himself. Whilst a lot of what the newspapers reveal is true however over-exaggerated, what Nick varney reveals himself cannot be trusted to full extent. Nick Varney as CEO of merlin simply won't be allowed to reveal exclusive information into what's going on behind the scenes. He most likely knows the cause of the smiler accident etc. however hasn't announced it to the public simply because he's not allowed to. There is a high chance H&S/local council teams have forced Merlin to shut similar ride types down across their range of parks in the UK, until the investigation is finished and and completely fail-proof operations can be developed in order to ensure this accident doesn't happen again. When the various block-brake rides do re-open, there is a high chance they will be running on a reduced amount of cars with slower dispatch times for a while in order to stop anything happening like this again in the future.
June 5, 201510 yr comment_210652 Fair point James but if they do indeed know the full reasons behind the incident then surely rather then loose hundreds of thousand pounds a day they would re open the rest of the park why keep it all shut? Just leave x sector shut for now!!.......another point is if smiler is shut for the foreseeable future what would they do about oblivion? And can H&S force a complete park shutdown when it's only one ride in question at Alton? Or is sonic being investigated as well as a multi car? And does oblivion get classed as a multi car ride? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
June 5, 201510 yr comment_210653 Varney can do what he wants, its his company. Isn't he the reason Towers is still closed as he doesn't want to open the park until he knows how the accident occurred? As the HSE report said, only Smiler is prohibited to run, doesn't affect the other rides so Towers can open whenever managers decide, HSE have cleared it basically. Varney and the Merlin team are implementing new procedures, they decided to close Saw because it was too similar to Smiler, not because there hand was pushed. Same with Fury and Rattlesnake, they've ran without problems for years and are different manufacturers. H&S wouldn't close them, Merlin have decided to implement new procedures to learn from mistakes. I doubt they'll run lower capacity, the new procedures will hopefully cover that.
June 5, 201510 yr comment_210654 Fair point James but if they do indeed know the full reasons behind the incident then surely rather then loose hundreds of thousand pounds a day they would re open the rest of the park why keep it all shut? Just leave x sector shut for now!!.......another point is if smiler is shut for the foreseeable future what would they do about oblivion? And can H&S force a complete park shutdown when it's only one ride in question at Alton? Or is sonic being investigated as well as a multi car? And does oblivion get classed as a multi car ride? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk I highly doubt they know full reason behind the accident, hence H&S still proceeding with their investigation however I'm sure the senior management teams within Merlin will have a very good idea of what has happened in the incident.As far as I'm aware, H&S and the local council pretty much have control over Alton towers right now. One of the main reasons the park hasn't re-opened yet without X-Sector is because it hasn't been deemed safe to reopen. Merlin are probably waiting for the word go from the H&S and local council teams and therefore they may be powerless right now in the situation. I'm not certain in what I am stating here, but I have a rough idea as to why towers hasn't re-opened yet and the other rides are closed across the board. I will certainly be doing some more investigation into the situation however. (SCB once again, as I have stated you are all taking the words out of Varney's mouth presuming every word he says is completely true. At this point in time, it is highly likely Merlin don't want people involved and therefore reliable news sources such as the BBC are likely to be more reliable at this point. Don't take my word for it, but I have investigated into this and it is highly unlikely merlin will be telling the truth at the moment). -To be honest the only ones who know the truth at the moment are Merlin, H&S and the Council, with the news knowing a large portion of the situation. Therefore everything we all say, is likely to be speculation and none of what any of us are saying, including me, can be trusted.
June 5, 201510 yr comment_210655 I guess we're all have to wait and see what happens. But I know this will not put me off rides and I do think the media has exaggerated so much. Did find it funny how they kept repeating how the ride had broken and been put "into test mode" which means they know the ride had problems.........surely the media reporters have been to theme parks and ride testing is a common experience every time you go to a theme park. Just hope saw re opens soon as don't wanna make a trip to Thorpe until its operational again :-) Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
June 5, 201510 yr comment_210656 The HSE report posted in the Smiler incident thread says that the decision to reopen Towers is now down to the managers as HSE have finished with all the rides bar Smiler as of earlier today. The decision to still be closed tomorrow isn't H&S related, it's one that's been made by the park managers. Why would Varney lie about this? There's nothing to hide, the worst is out there. He has handled this all very well. We would know if an external H&S is investigating the rides as they'd be making reports and so on. Saw was running fine Tuesday, Fury and Rattle were still open Wednesday and Thursday. If H&S were involved in their closure they'd have done it sooner.
June 5, 201510 yr comment_210657 I guess we're all have to wait and see what happens. But I know this will not put me off rides and I do think the media has exaggerated so much. Did find it funny how they kept repeating how the ride had broken and been put "into test mode" which means they know the ride had problems.........surely the media reporters have been to theme parks and ride testing is a common experience every time you go to a theme park. Just hope saw re opens soon as don't wanna make a trip to Thorpe until its operational again :-) Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Alas, the media care not of their knowledge, only power. Even if they had the intellect many enthusiasts have, they would be forced to report otherwise.
June 5, 201510 yr comment_210658 The Health and Safety Executive have only required that Smiler is closed. Towers legally cannot reopen Smiler until the cause is identified and rectified. It is up to Merlin when Alton reopens, and Merlin have no obligation to close any other rides. Source: H&SE report (the link can be find on Towers Street; would give a direct link, but I'm on my phone). Edit: Ninjaed by SCB, but meh.
June 6, 201510 yr comment_210683 Unfortunately, I have just come across an article on the BBC webpage that uses quotes from Thorpe Management. The word from them is that Saw will be closed 'indefinitely' AND 'for the foreseeable future'. That sounds pretty bad to me. On the side, the Chessington rides will 'open as soon as possible'.
June 7, 201510 yr comment_210765 It never broke though... Thought they were using it as a like Smiler system to establish some answers?
June 7, 201510 yr comment_210771 Would it be particularly easy to recreate a situation like the one on The Smiler? That would suggest they know an exact cause. If they find that the same fault (supposing that's what the major problem was) isn't on Saw, surely they can reopen it?
June 7, 201510 yr comment_210782 ^^ doesn't mean anythingI agree, might just have been testing to try and help with the smiler investigation.Saw never had any technical issues, so at this stage it testing is no indication whatsoever to when the ride is likely to re-open. However, they really do need it re-opened for the summer holidays to control the crowds and summer nights will be much worse this year without Saw and Colossus as part of the line up (There is a chance Colossus will be closed due to Island Beats taking place)
June 7, 201510 yr comment_210789 Surely the testing today could just be to keep the ride running a bit? Not always best to just leave it to rest... I mean this is all theory
June 7, 201510 yr comment_210792 Well if it's not best to leave them rested, every off season of 5 months must be terrible! They've probably been doing computer tests throughout the day, of which only a certain amount needed physical ride checks.
June 7, 201510 yr comment_210793 It never broke though... Thought they were using it as a like Smiler system to establish some answers? Yeah I guess. And if they have added new safety protocols like they have with Rattlesnake and Fury, staff would have to be re-trained.
June 7, 201510 yr comment_210794 Hopefully Saw will be open before the main summer holidays. Lets hope they get all the modifications and training done soon. I am really surprise that The Smiler crash and Alton Towers closure just had constant media coverage for the last 5 days. Hat off to Nick Varney, he did very well in that awful Sky News interview. If anything, this incident has improved by opinion of Merlin and their safety rather than being negative. I would have no issue going on Saw or The Smiler tomorrow if both open.
June 15, 201510 yr comment_211291 is there any chance at all that SAW will be open tomorrow?? They aren't saying when it'll reopen, they are just saying until further notice. I doubt it'll be open for a while.
June 15, 201510 yr comment_211296 TBH the longer it stays closed the more it's going to work against them, because people will start asking why it's closed and they'll start to assume that perhaps 'these German rides are faulty'. I put that in quotes because it's essentially what someone asked me today.
June 15, 201510 yr comment_211305 they'll start to assume that perhaps 'these German rides are faulty'. And what if they are? The park is right to keep it closed until measures can be put in place to ensure the fault on The Smiler cannot be replicated.
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