Man and woman taken to hospital after rollercoaster incident on pier

Two people were taken to hospital following an incident involving a rollercoaster on Clacton Pier in Essex.

A post on the pier’s website said a man who is a “long-standing member of staff at the attraction, suffered a cut to his head” on Monday afternoon.

A woman, “who was in the front car of the Looping Star, had a bump to the head and was also suffering from shock”, the blog post said.

Essex Police said it was “reported that a member of staff had sustained serious injuries after colliding with a mechanical ride which had not deviated from its track”.

A pier worker dialled 999 and police, fire and ambulance services all attended.

Pier director Billy Ball said both casualties were able to walk to the ambulance and were taken to Colchester Hospital.

He said that from early witness reports it was understood the “ride itself was not at fault”.

“A full inquiry is now under way into what happened and we will be able to say more in due course when we have the full details,” Mr Ball added.

“The ride will not be in operation until all the facts have been established as would be normal in this type of incident.”

He thanked emergency services staff, adding: “We can only praise all of them for arriving so promptly and taking over the care of the two casualties after they had initially been looked after by pier staff.

“At Clacton Pier the safety and wellbeing of our staff and guests is our number one priority.”

It is believed the injured woman was holidaying in the area with her family, the pier said on its website.

Essex Police said emergency workers attended the pier at around 12.40pm.

“It was reported that a member of staff had sustained serious injuries after colliding with a mechanical ride which had not deviated from its track,” a force spokesman said.

“A second person, a member of the public, also received minor injuries and both have been taken to hospital for treatment.

“We are liaising with Clacton Pier and the Health and Safety Executive on the incident.

“If you witnessed the incident or have mobile phone footage of it, please get in contact.”

An East of England Ambulance Service spokesman said that two ambulances, an ambulance officer vehicle and East Anglian Air Ambulance were called to Clacton Pier following reports of a man injured in an incident with a rollercoaster.

Witnesses are asked to report details to police online or on 101 quoting incident 664 of June 26.