Number of Alton Towers Ambulance call outs doubles

An FOI request made to the West Midlands Ambulance Service has revealed that over twice the amount of ambulance call outs were made in 2015 to the Staffordshire theme park than in the year before.

2014 saw 52 Ambulances called out, with injuries and illnesses including falls, cardiac arrest, chest pains and breathing problems noted as the causes. However data collected last year showed over twice that amount were made across the same time period in 2015, a staggering 114 ambulances were called to attend to unwell park goers and staff alike with 66% requiring hospitalisation.

‘Oblivion’ at Alton Towers theme park

The discovery comes under a year after the park’s horrific accident last June, when roller coaster ‘The Smiler’ crashed into an empty carriage resulting in life threatening and changing injuries for most of the victims, including amputation of limbs.

As well as coming to light in the wake of amputee Vicky Balch, who lost her leg in the crash, walking again unaided for the first time this month.

On the subject of last year’s incident Merlin Entertainments, the company who own the park stated:

“We are confident that lessons have been learned and that appropriate action has been taken to address all the issues raised by our investigation and we believe our core conclusions will be in line with the HSE findings.”

Amanda, a mum of 3 planning a trip to the theme park next month said: “It puts you off a little bit, it’s scary just the idea of more ambulances having to be called out to somewhere you want to take your kids, even if it’s not the parks fault.”

Reasons for ambulance call outs

However it seems not everyone is put off by these findings,

“Everywhere has accidents, it’s not as if Alton Towers can stop people getting ill, so no it wouldn’t and doesn’t put me off” said Rachel, a student who has already visited the theme park this year and plans to visit again, adding “it’s silly to be overly wary about everything bad that happens.”

While Alton Towers is seemingly lagging behind in their guest health figures other parks in the area have improved significantly over the last year, with Drayton Manor seeing their ambulance call out rate drop from 52 in 2014 to 22 across 2015. West Midland Safari park.

When contacted for a statement on rising ambulance call out figures, Alton Towers did not reply.

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