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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| Fairground teacup ride 'spins into crowd' at Leeds Castle | Fairground teacup ride 'spins into crowd' at Leeds Castle |
| (about 4 hours later) | |
| Three girls were hurt when a fairground teacup ride came loose and "spun into a crowd" at a fireworks display. | |
| Parents screamed as the cup broke away from its platform at Leeds Castle, near Maidstone, on Saturday. | Parents screamed as the cup broke away from its platform at Leeds Castle, near Maidstone, on Saturday. |
| The girls were treated by paramedics for shock and apparently minor injuries. An eyewitness told of seeing children under a cup. | The girls were treated by paramedics for shock and apparently minor injuries. An eyewitness told of seeing children under a cup. |
| It happened on the same day eight children were hurt falling from an inflatable slide in Woking. | It happened on the same day eight children were hurt falling from an inflatable slide in Woking. |
| Dee Sturgess, who witnessed the incident at 17:15 GMT, said the ride "kept stopping unexpectedly" so she decided to move on to the next stall before she "heard screams". | Dee Sturgess, who witnessed the incident at 17:15 GMT, said the ride "kept stopping unexpectedly" so she decided to move on to the next stall before she "heard screams". |
| She said: "We ran over through the crowd - who mostly were just standing frozen - to find children under the tea cup and screaming parents. | She said: "We ran over through the crowd - who mostly were just standing frozen - to find children under the tea cup and screaming parents. |
| "There was a very long couple of minutes with children from the other cups on the ride screaming before the ride was switched off." | "There was a very long couple of minutes with children from the other cups on the ride screaming before the ride was switched off." |
| 'Hysterically screaming' | 'Hysterically screaming' |
| She said some men lifted the cup off the children while another man pulled out a young girl who "was shaking and going into shock". | She said some men lifted the cup off the children while another man pulled out a young girl who "was shaking and going into shock". |
| Meanwhile, she said "a mum with a very young toddler who was knocked under the cup was hysterically screaming". | Meanwhile, she said "a mum with a very young toddler who was knocked under the cup was hysterically screaming". |
| Chelsea Thompson was queuing for the ride with her two daughters Ruby, aged two and Elsie, five. | |
| She said the ride was "creaking and the cup was lifting up" before it came off the platform and struck the girls. | |
| "It was all so fast," she said. | |
| Ms Thompson said both children were still in shock but were checked over in hospital on Sunday morning and "nothing is broken". | |
| Toni Chapman said on Facebook her daughter and granddaughter were on the ride when it happened. | |
| She said: "She was horrified and my granddaughter was screaming even though she's too young to understand. A lady nearby just about managed to pull her pram out of the way." | |
| Another parent, Joanne Samantha, said she had to walk away as her eight-year-old was screaming. | |
| 'Low-level' | |
| "It was very distressing to see. In this health and safety-mad world, this simply should not happen," she said on Facebook. | |
| In a statement Leeds Castle said "a low-level fairground ride had fallen from its revolving platform". | |
| It said paramedics arrived at the scene "within moments", as did Leeds Castle's chief executive, and its health and safety officer. | |
| It added: "Three people were directly involved and, while understandably shocked, none sustained significant physical injury and were able to watch the full fireworks display." | |
| However, a relative of one of the girls in the teacup said: "The two girls needed monitoring for some time, meaning they did not see the fireworks as Leeds Castle suggests." | |
| Safety inspection | |
| Leeds Castle chief executive Sir David Steel said the ride was "operated by an independent contractor that [we have] used many times before". | |
| He said it had passed a safety inspection in September. | He said it had passed a safety inspection in September. |
| "The ride has now been taken out of service and all the other rides at the small funfair will have been checked again ahead of tonight's display, " he added. | |