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An amusement park has been summonsed to court, two years after a girl fell while queuing for a ride and fractured her skull.
Jessica Blake was four years old when she fell about 14ft while in line for the Tomb Blaster attraction at Chessington World of Adventures in Surrey in June 2012.
We reported at the time the girl, from Halfway, Sheppey, suffered a bleed on the brain and broken ribs.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) into the circumstances that led to the fall was carried out and it has now launched a criminal prosecution against the park.
Chessington World of Adventures Operations Ltd, which is part of the Merlin Entertainments group will appear at Redhill Magistrates’ Court on November 4.
The charges relate to section three of the Health and Safety at Work Act which is largely to do with a company’s responsibility to look after visitors or people not in their employment.
The allegation is that the site failed to inspect the fences in the queue and did not have an adequate maintenance system in place for them.
A spokesman for Chessington World of Adventures said: “We are disappointed that the HSE has decided to prosecute but will now take time to read their findings and reasons for this decision in detail before responding any further.
“The health and safety of our visitors is always the primary objective of Chessington World of Adventures.
“We take any incident on the park very seriously, particularly one as significant and unprecedented as the one in June 2012.
“Chessington carried out our own very detailed investigation at the time of the incident and co-operated fully with the HSE investigation throughout.”
Claire Howard, at solicitors Irwin Mitchell, said: “The family was naturally devastated after the accident and feared the worst for Jessica.
"She suffered serious head injuries and will need specialist support and rehabilitation to help her to overcome the trauma.
“We have been working collaboratively with Chessington’s lawyers to secure funds to cover rehabilitation to date and which will give her parents peace of mind that her future care and treatment costs will be taken care of so that they can look forward to her making the best possible recovery and getting their lives back on track.
“They are all relieved that the case will now get heard before the courts as they are keen to find out exactly what went wrong and if any lessons can be learnt to reduce the risk of future similar incidents.”
"We want to know exactly how this incident was able to happen and how Jessica could fall so far while queuing for a children’s ride" - Jessica's family
Jessica’s family issued a statement saying: “The past few years have been very tough for all the family but Jessica has got stronger and stronger which has kept us all going.
“We want to know exactly how this incident was able to happen and how Jessica could fall so far while queuing for a children’s ride.
“One minute they were enjoying a fun day out and the next Jessica is fighting for her life.
"We are pleased that the HSE has carried out an investigation and keen to find out what will happen at court so that we can begin to move on with our lives.
"We want to see justice done and know that everything is being done to stop accidents like this happening to others.”
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