Families of girls hurt on Landmark rollercoaster sue park owners

The mother of the second girl said she had felt terrified and helpless.

She said: “Our sincere thanks go to the emergency workers and medical staff who cared for our children that day.”

The families said they were frustrated by a lack of information on what had happened.

A court action has been raised against Visitor Centres Ltd which runs the theme park.

A spokesperson for Landmark Park said: “We very much regret this incident occurred.

“Landmark Forest Adventure Park fully cooperated with HSE’s investigation which resulted in no enforcement action of any kind being taken against us by HSE. We also carried out our own investigation into the incident.”

The company said its own investigation confirmed the defect which contributed to the accident should have been detected by a specialist contractor during the annual non-destructive testing (NDT) inspection prior to the incident.

It said it understood the HSE’s investigations reached the same conclusion.

NDT testing is a legal requirement which must be carried out every 12 months in accordance with industry guidance.

The spokesperson added: “We provided an independent expert report to Digby Brown in December 2022 confirming the outcome of our investigation. We have heard nothing further from Digby Brown subsequently and are therefore surprised to be included in the court action which we will robustly defend.”

They confirmed that Landmark had not been placed under any restrictions but had decided not to operate the rollercoaster following the accident and it is no longer on site.