The World's Deadliest Roller Coaster Crash

[Music] [Music] on the 30th of may 1972 three carriages on the big dipper roller coaster at the battersea funfair in london carrying mostly children and teenagers began unexpectedly hurtling backwards down the track before derailing and smashing into the hoarding below claiming the lives of five passengers and injuring 13 others in the process to this day it remains the deadliest roller coaster disaster of all time [Music] the big dipper roller coaster was part of the battersea fun fair and was located in london's south bank initially installed as part of the 1951 festival of britain a nationwide event designed to lift the spirits of the country the funfair element was kept on due to its popularity and well it's not hard to understand why despite its old-fashioned sounding name the battersea funfair was anything but because it was as many have argued one of the very first theme parks as we might understand them today predating disney by four years the battersea funfair's design was somewhat novel for its time employing exotic-looking architectural facades and fantastical elements to give the visitor a sense of being in another world entirely even if that world had no basis in reality visitors could step back in time to a fantastical medieval england and ride through dragon mountain they could attend the races at monte carlo go on a cruise around the world marvel at a mississippi-style showboat from which old-fashioned kentucky style music was played or perhaps even ride a rocket ship heading straight to the moon while the fairgrounds offered an almost endless opportunity to immerse oneself in pure unadulterated escapism of course by far the most popular ride at the park was the biggest a side friction roller coaster known as the big dipper dominating the park's skyline and reaching heights of 15 meters the ride frequently attracted exceptionally long queues and was a must-do attraction for young thrill-seekers employing several steep drops and a section through a large dark tunnel by 1972 however the ride was nearly half a century old and while still extremely popular it had gone through a number of repairs and redesigns coupled with alleged rampant mismanagement and a general lack of health and safety laws at the time this once mesmerizing ride had become a tragedy waiting to happen it was a warm and sunny spring afternoon on tuesday the 30th of may 1972. schools in the uk had just broken up for half term and so the battersea funfair was particularly busy and the cues for the big dipper longer than usual as groups of children and teenagers waited their turn to board the ride at around 2 30 pm 30 people mostly children boarded the three-car train as was common for some older roller coasters at the time a brakeman would also be riding in one of the cars because the ride's design required someone to manually slow it down before bends and as the ride came to an end the ride began as normal with the train being slowly winched up the hill by its hauled rope making a distinct creaking noise as it went while those in the queue were excitedly watching on waiting for the inevitable drop but as the train was being hauled up the first incline just before the first peak that haulage rope unexpectedly broke and the entire train began going backwards down the track as the train gathered speed the brakeman desperately tried and failed to put the brakes on visitors who were there that day have described how at this stage the crowds below began laughing because it seemed as though it was meant to happen perhaps either as a deliberate prank played by the brakeman or an amusing but harmless ride failure even the passengers themselves thought at least momentarily that it was an elaborate prank designed to scare them sadly neither was the case and as the train continued to gain momentum over a distance of about 90 feet laughs quickly turned to screams when the first car derailed as it made its way around the corner jumping the rails and falling 15 feet the other two cars then disappeared behind the wooden screens covering the entrance area smashing into another stationary train and causing some of the wooden hoardings to collapse as the accident happened some passengers were flung out leaving some hanging upside down over the railings and walkway area and some lying on the floor in front of the crowds having been flung into the air the front carriage had crushed the carriages behind it but itself had remained relatively undamaged and was still about 15 meters from the ground one fifteen year old girl who was on this carriage became shocked and dazed and made for the wooden walkway and handrail to steady herself at first she began screaming that she wanted to get off but then she saw her friend who was covered in debris unfortunately in moving to help her the structure gave way beneath her feet and the girl fell to her death in the back cars it had become apparent that several other children were being crushed the scene quickly turned into one of complete chaos as onlookers rushed to help those that were stuck under debris and the bodies of the other passengers most of them children and teenagers as emergency workers flocked to the scene shockingly the fun fact quickly returned to normal as visitors continued to queue for rides and pop music bled through the park's speakers even as the rescuers watched to three people trapped in the wreckage tragically all said and done five children lost their lives three on the scene and two later in hospital and a further 13 were injured in the aftermath there was only one question on everybody's minds how could such a devastating accident happen at one of the uk's most well-loved amusement parks and who was responsible but surprisingly in the days after the tragedy nobody seemed to have any answers not even the people in charge of the roller coasters themselves who were careful to emphasize that monthly inspections of the big dipper were carried out by a qualified engineer it wasn't long before accusations began flying and calls for a full-scale public inquiry soon dominated the pages of national newspapers as the owners of the big dipper carried out their own private investigations on the matter a full-scale public investigation was carried out by the end of 1972 the public investigation had been completed and passed on to the director of public prosecutions and by february of 1973 a trial was underway charging frank etches the engineer responsible for its inspection and the ride manager james hogan with manslaughter the findings of that trial would come to shock the nation the inspectors involved in the inquiry found almost every aspect of the ride to be defective reporting a total of 66 defects 18 of them in the support of the structure the ride was quite literally a death trap let's briefly go over the main contributing factors so we can understand just how much of show this really was the first contributing factor was the unsatisfactory condition of the haulage rope that had snapped during the uphill incline on top of this the rope was found to be only partially engaged in the gripping device required for it to work effectively the second contributing factor was the poorly maintained safety devices roller coasters of this type were built with arresters also known as dogs and these could be used as breaks should a train start to go backwards down a slope on the big dipper eight of these dogs should have been in place so why didn't they work well for a start four were found to be missing of the four that remained three were found to be defective meaning that only one working arrester was in place at the time of the accident unsurprisingly that arrest is snapped under the weight of the train as it hurled backwards the third contributing factor was the condition of the structural work which was described as deplorable significant rot was found to be present in five separate places as well as excessive algae growth on the walkway on which one of the engineers had slipped while carrying out their investigations it was on this defective walkway that the young girl had fallen through when she had been thrown out of the train the fourth contributing factor was the misalignment of the track along which the train was hauled it was this that had caused the derailment which had thrown the passengers out of the train car there were also a number of other indirect but no less important contributing factors too for example it was found that the roller coaster had suffered a devastating fire in 1970 and that parts which were more than 50 years old at the time had been purchased as replacements furthermore prosecutor henry powell also claimed that the employees working on the roller coaster were nothing more than teenage boys without training of any sort a former big dipper employee would testify that both management and employees were drinking and using drugs while working and that a very similar incident had in fact taken place the year prior causing a passenger to fracture their arm now if you're wondering how the ride could have been allowed to get into such a condition even with regular inspections you're not alone the answer to this can get quite complicated but it basically boils down to how fairgrounds were governed at the time long story short they weren't really there was a voluntary code of practice for some types of fairgrounds but these were full of loopholes regular inspections by qualified engineer were recommended but how often what type of engineer and what constituted qualified was mostly up to the individual owner it would be these poor health and safety requirements that would be used as the main defense throughout the trial and in november 1973 both the structural engineer and the manager of the ride were acquitted while the structural engineer had certified the riders quote structurally and operationally sound the judge had contended that this assessment only applied to the train and its cars when they were stationary and it did not mean that he was responsible or even obliged to test and certify the mechanical side of the big dipper the ride's manager was found not guilty because the jury decided that as a former fittest mate he could not be expected to have sufficient knowledge to ensure the ride's safety while the big dipper itself was dismantled after the accident and some of its parts used for a smaller ride the park itself remained open but inevitably the fair's popularity rapidly declined and it was forced to close in 1974. while the battersea funfair disaster did trigger a chain of events that would eventually lead to a number of changes in the law change was not as immediate as you might think it would take nearly two years from the accident for fairgrounds to be brought under health and safety law which had then been reworked to cover members of the public despite being the worst roller coaster disaster of all time even to this day very little remains to suggest that the fairground ever even existed however as of may 2022 a tree was planted to commemorate the disaster's 50th anniversary and there are further plans for a more permanent memorial underway still while many have dubbed the event britain's forgotten disaster for the family of the five children who lost their lives and the traumatized survivors the battersea funfair disaster no doubt remains as alive and as real as ever [Music] you

Channel: Real Horror

Views: 1,327,708

Keywords: ROLLER COASTER DISASTER

Id: mc47BN0_80I

Length: 12min 4sec (724 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 10 2022