A man who got stuck on the Big One in Blackpool yesterday has told of his 'terrifying experience' in trying to get down from the rollercoaster.
Jordan Slater, from St Helens, was on a day out with his friend when they decided to go on the ride for a second time on Sunday (April 23) at around 3pm. The 21-year-old said as they were climbing up to the peak of the ride it "buckled", but it carried on moments later.
It was then the ride came to a sudden stop as Jordan, his friend and other people were left hundreds of feet up in the air. Now, he was told the Liverpool Echo what it was like to be caught up in the chaos.
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"We were stuck up there for about 20 to 25 minutes," he recalled. "The ride was ascending and then buckled once, thinking nothing of it the ride then went to continue to ascend even more to 150 feet in the air and then came to an all sudden stop."
Workers at Pleasure Beach came to help and riders were told they would have to get off The Big One and walk more than 200 steps down. Jordan said it was "quite a terrifying experience".
He added: "Workers came up and assured us that all was fine and safe and whether it was safe to restart the ride or to get us down. Around 10 to 15 minutes after that we were told we had to get out of the carriage one by one and walk down the 200 plus steps.
"It was quite a terrifying experience. Once down from the ride we were then taken to the café for a free hot chocolate."
Videos from Jordan showed him and his friend descended in the air after the ride came to a sudden stop. A view of the whole of Blackpool and part of the sea can be seen in the footage.
Another clip shows Jordan and his friend taking the slow walk down the huge flight of stairs. This was the second time in a month people had to disembark the ride.
On April 11, staff members had to ask passengers to walk all the way back down to the ground after it stopped on the lift hill during bad weather. The ride was then closed for the remainder of the day.
A spokesperson said on Sunday: "The Big One rollercoaster stopped today (Sunday, April 23) just before 3pm, just over halfway up the lift hill.
"There was a minor technical problem and the safety system on the ride worked exactly as it should and immediately stopped the train on the lift as a precaution. Trained staff walked all riders safely down a set of stairs to the ground within 30 minutes."
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