Seen a few posts on Chessington's official Facebook page about an incident that appears to have occurred yesterday.

It seems a young girl was on a bridge in a queueline, reports suggest Tomb Blaster, and I guess it's got to be that or Rameses, and people are saying that there was a hole in this bridge which she fell through.

Obviously a terrible thing to happen - and if there was a hole in the queueline bridge Chessington need to explain why it was there and what safety checks the bridge had undergone. I think checking the entire queueline is part of the opening procedure so perhaps it wasn't done correctly or the hole appeared at some stage during the day whilst the attraction was operational, either way someone should probably have spotted it.

I'm treading very carefully here because I don't want to lay the blame on Chessington for something that isn't their fault, and even if they are responsible I know for sure no one there would have maliciously planned for something like this to happen and all the staff are probably feeling a bit shaken up by it.

Latest reports from several people claiming to be the girl's uncles/aunts are saying she's in hospital with a fractured skull, fractured ribs and other internal injuries. It seems initial posts about it on Facebook were deleted by the park, but as more came through from an obviously large number of witnesses, they seem to have gone with it and wished her well. I only post this here because one member of the family has threatened to take it to The Sun, and that just makes them look like an idiot.

But idiot or not, my thoughts are of course with the young girl.

Source: http://www.facebook.com/Chessington

Oh dear. As you say, its too early to comment about what actually happened. I do know that that part of the park does have quite a bit of CCTV so hopefully that was working and saw what happened.

Obviously thoughts go out to the injured party.

Well I bet that part of the queueline wont be used anymore.

Oh dear, thoughts are with the little girl and the family. Hope she makes a full recovery!

Chavs put foot through bridge, bored of waiting... girl falls down it I can't see the park overlooking a hole that big.

The Daily Scum have picked up and sensationalised the story: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... -park.html

Cue all the usual "theme parks aren't safe, shut them down" morons...

Although one comment one there alleges that the loose panel was reported to the park on Tuesday and nothing was done, in which case someone's getting prosecuted...

Yeah not good.

Although the comment says it was a loose railing whereas the discussion on Facebook makes it appear she fell through the floor, so it could be completely unrelated or it could be bollocks.

Terrible thing to happen, thoughts go out to the family and the little girl, hope she makes a full recovery from this!

The biggest discussion thread on Facebook has disappeared, I don't know if Chessington or the original poster have removed it. Shame, it was interesting.

The people there saying 'she should have been safe!' are annoying, why should Chessington be responsible for wrapping every guest up in cotton wool? It was obviously a busy day so hundreds of people were going across the bridge without incident, I think perhaps some of the responsibility has to lie with the person in charge of the child, letting them carelessly run across. If I was up there with one of my kids I'd almost certainly be holding their hand. But, on the other side of the argument, the hole in the fence shouldn't have been there in the first place.

And why are the papers reporting that it was 30ft up? Wouldn't that put her on top of the building? The Tomb Blaster bridge is about 12-15ft up at most. And someone had a go at me yesterday for saying the papers would sensationalise...

Thoughts are with the young girl and her family. Even if some of the responsibility for the accident rests with them, it's still surely a worrying time.

Looking longer term, I hope that the q-line is repaired and reopened, rather than Chessington using this as an excuse to close it. I love Tomb Blaster's (and Rameses!) q-line's - they're wonderfully 'old school' (i.e. good).

hopefully she'll make a full & speedy recovery.

Kind of emphasises that statistic; that you're far more likely to be injured getting *to* a ride, than you are actually on it.

Well the story is all over the place now....

Will be interesting to see what the H&SE say.

The ride will be down until the 11th of June at the earliest.

UPDATE: The ride is still closed and is closed until further notice.

Knowing Merlin they will probably use this as an excuse to close the ride for the season in a cost cutting measure.