| Watch the on-ride POV |
|---|
_switchbacks.jpg)
| |||||||||
| Twister in 2010 | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Statistics | |||||||||
| Manufacturer | Reverchon | ||||||||
| Product | Spinning Coaster | ||||||||
| Type | Steel - Spinning - Wild Mouse | ||||||||
| Riders per train | 4 | ||||||||
| Hourly capacity | 900 | ||||||||
| Propulsion | Chain lift hill | ||||||||
| Area | 19 metres × 42 metres | ||||||||
| Height | 13 metres | ||||||||
| Top speed | 46.8 km/h | ||||||||
| Length | 420 metres | ||||||||
| Inversions | 0 | ||||||||
| Duration | 1:30 | ||||||||
| HELP | |||||||||
Twister is a travelling steel spinning wild mouse roller coaster built by French manufacturer Reverchon currently owned & travelled by UK showman Emerson Edwards.
Design
Trains
Single cars. Riders are arranged 4 across in a single row, for a total of 4 riders per car. The tallest people are seated on the outside, while small people sit on the inside.
History
The ride first opened at Lightwater Valley in May 2001 and was named Treetop Twister, however this name was dropped after the incident in 2001. The ride was removed from the park after the 2019 season.[1]
Incidents
On 21 June 2001, 20-year old Gemma Savage died following an accident the previous day when two cars collided. Police decided not to prosecute a maintenance worker who claimed he had never seen the ride's manual, and had only had an hour's training. Faulty wiring also caused a malfunction on the ride.
In October 2004, Deputy Coroner John Sleightholme at Skipton Magistrates' Court ruled death by misadventure. Lightwater Valley's owners and electrician Eric Butters admitted breaching health and safety laws at Leeds Crown Court on 14 November 2006. Lightwater Valley Attractions Ltd. was charged with failing to ensure the health and safety of riders, Butters was charged with failing to ensure safety through his work. Both pleaded guilty. The ride's manufacturer, Reverchon Industries SA (France), was convicted of two charges of failing to ensure the ride's safe design and construction.
On 30 May 2019, a 7-year-old boy was airlifted to hospital after falling from Twister. He sustained injuries to his head that were initially not thought to be serious, however, his condition subsequently became critical. His condition has since improved and an investigation into the incident was launched.[2] It was subsequently determined that the boy fell through the gap between the seat and lap-bar, and that neither him nor his mother were wearing the seatbelt. Lightwater Valley was fined £350,000 in December 2020 for breaching health and safety guidelines.[3]
Images
.jpg)
_car.jpg)
References
- ↑ "Lightwater Valley: Twister and Apollo leaving". RideRater. 1 February 2020. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
- ↑ "Lightwater Valley incident: Condition of boy, 7, who fell off rollercoaster 'improving'". Sky News.
- ↑ "Lightwater Valley fined £350k over boy's rollercoaster fall". BBC News. 4 December 2020. Retrieved 17 January 2021.
External links
- Twister on the Roller Coaster DataBase.
- Images of the ride on NFCA Digital.