Two children have been injured following an accident involving a Twister-type flat ride at a Liverpool funfair.
A nine-year-old and ten-year-old were hospitalised with minor injuries following the incident, which occurred at Sefton Park at 4:20pm today.
It is understood that part of the ride’s illuminated signage collapsed onto the children when the ride was in motion, and were taken directly to hospital via parents.
An unnamed spokesperson for John Collins Funfairs Ltd was quoted by the Liverpool Echo newspaper as saying the ride as subsequently closed.
Standard practice following ride accidents causing injury involves the police and Health and Safety Executive (HSE) conducting investigations while the ride is quarantined for inspection.
However, the funfair spokesman said that “no one was hurt” by the incident, while Merseyside Police said they had not been called.
‘Almighty crash’
Jo Davies, the mother of one of the injured children told the Liverpool Echo they were half an hour into a trip to the funfair when the incident occurred.
“The kids had been on the waltzers. They then went on the Twister and it was going round at some speed when all of a sudden we heard this almighty crash,” she said.
“Part of the sign above fell down on top of them as it was going round. Other kids were affected too, but ours took the brunt of it.
“Everyone was screaming hysterically and we were in such shock we didn’t even call an ambulance, we just got the kids in the car and went straight to Alder Hey [hospital].
“The people operating the ride seemed in shock at what had happened – no one could believe it. The noise of it coming down was unbelievable,” she added.