Woman thrown from Hull Fair ride says she is 'lucky to be alive'

A 21-year-old woman says she feels lucky to be alive after she was thrown from a fairground ride "like a rag doll".
Investigators at the scene of the accident at Hull Fair Picture: Dan Rowlands / SWNS.comInvestigators at the scene of the accident at Hull Fair Picture: Dan Rowlands / SWNS.com
Investigators at the scene of the accident at Hull Fair Picture: Dan Rowlands / SWNS.com

Jade Harrison suffered a seriously broken jaw which had to be secured with metal plates after she was thrown from the Airmaxx 360 ride at Hull Fair last week.

A teenage boy hit by Ms Harrison as she fell suffered minor injuries.

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Ms Harrison, from Hull, is calling for the ride to be scrapped and for safety improvements at fairgrounds.

Police at the scene of the accident Picture: Dan Rowlands / SWNS.comPolice at the scene of the accident Picture: Dan Rowlands / SWNS.com
Police at the scene of the accident Picture: Dan Rowlands / SWNS.com

She said she still cannot smile due to her facial injuries and the metal plates she had inserted during three days in hospital.

Ms Harrison said she also lost a tooth and is likely to lose two more.

She said she faces weeks on liquid food and struggles to walk due to extensive bruising to her legs and chest.

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"It started to bounce and that's when remember it tilting - I was worried about coming out but that's the last thing I remember thinking," she told Hull Live.

"I would have said I fell out and dropped straight to the ground below, I didn't know I had been flown through the air like a rag doll until my mum told me in hospital."

Ms Harrison said she does not normally go on rides and is usually just happy to walk around the fair, which is one of the largest travelling funfairs in Europe.

She said that, due to nerves, she immediately pulled down her own safety barrier when she sat down.

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"The barrier must have come free and, when that happened, my life was left relying on the clasp and buckle of a belt," she said. "How can that be right?

"My little sister is nine years old and I'd hate to think of this happening to her.

"I feel lucky to be alive, or to have come away from this without a brain or spinal injury which would have left me paralysed for life. So I do feel lucky in a way.

"However I also feel angry as nobody should go to a fair and be thrown from a ride. It is disgusting really, and when I think about how it happened it makes me angry that the safety systems simply didn't do their jobs.

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"I think the ride should be scrapped, and if that happens then at least I've achieved something."

She has instructed Hudgell Solicitors to represent her through the accident investigation.

Becci Ashfield, from Hudgells, said: "This is quite simply something which should never happen and a full and transparent investigation is now needed to bring answers as to how and why Jade came to be thrown from the ride and suffer her injuries.

"It is also vital that lessons are learned to avoid similar incidents happening again. That is vital for the confidence of the many thousands - of all ages - who attend fairs like this up and down the country and should be able to do so in the knowledge that they are completely safe on all rides."