The owners of popular Staffordshire amusement park Alton Towers have today pleaded guilty to breaching health and safety laws, after a rollercoaster incident last year left no less than five people with serious injuries.
Two of the passengers on rollercoaster “The Smiler”, Leah Washington and Vicky Balch, have since had to undergo leg amputations after the ride collided with a stationary carriage that had been left on the same track in June 2015.
Initially, Merlin Entertainment, the park’s owners, had cited “human error” for the incident, before the Health and Safety Executive started legal proceedings in February this year, which eventually lead to Merlin Ent. pleading guilty of a offence under the Health and Safety Work Act, as confirmed by a spokesperson this morning.