Summerland: Huddersfield survivor calls for justice over fire which killed mum and friend

• Video report by Helen Steel

A survivor of a huge leisure centre fire which killed 50 people including her mother and best friend says she still has flashbacks half a century later.

Jackie Hallam, from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, was 13 years-old when she, her mother Lorna and her friend Jane were caught at the centre of the Summerland Disaster, on the Isle of Man, on 2 August 1973.

Both Lorna and Jane died in the blaze. Jackie, now 63, managed to escape, but says the horror of that day continues to haunt her.

"There was nobody left standing up. There were just burning bodies," she said.

"The flashbacks still come, even 50 years on.

"Everything has affected me since then. When I sit in a cinema, when I go into a new building, I make sure I know where they exits are."

Opened to fanfare in 1971, Summerland was the Isle of Man's groundbreaking entertainment complex.

Designed to accommodate up to 10,000 tourists, it consisted of a dance hall, five floors of holiday games, a rollerskating rink, restaurants and public bars. 

The building was wrapped in a material called Oroglas. A transparent acrylic sheet used to create the illusion of artificial sunlight, it was also highly flammable.

After the fire broke out at around 7.30pm, flames spread up the roof, engulfing the building in seconds. Oroglas started to drip from the ceiling down on people below.

Jackie, who had spent a few days visiting the island's other tourist attractions with her mother and friend, was on the sixth floor of the building when the blaze started.

In the panic she lost Jane and jumped from the balcony to escape the flames.

"There was no air to breathe and there was nowhere to go," she said. "I remember feeling my clothes melt into me and my hair singe. The heat was intense and I was hopping from one foot onto the other to try and relieve the pain.

"I climbed up onto the railing and just looked down at the black and let go. I landed on something that broke underneath me and then hit the concrete floor. Had I landed straight on that it might have been different.

"I saw a light in the distance and just ran towards it and someone reached forward and pulled me out. I was just left outside on my own wandering around."

Fifty people died. Eighty were seriously injured.

Investigations found the fire was sparked by three boys from Liverpool who were smoking in a small disused kiosk.

A discarded cigarette caused the kiosk to catch fire, which then collapsed against the building, and within minutes it was ablaze.

It was, at the time, the worst peacetime loss of life in a fire disaster since the blitz.

Many who suffered feel the catastrophe has never been truly recognised.

No-one was held accountable. An inquiry published in 1974 concluded verdicts of death by misadventure for all those who died.

Fifty years on Jackie is calling for justice for her mum and friend.

"The inquest was not something I knew about at the time but their deaths being treated as by misadventure is what is driving me on," she said.

"It deflects the blame onto those people who went into the building. It suggests we took a voluntary risk going into that building. We went into it to use it for its intended purpose and we expected that building to be safe."

On Wednesday, Westminster MPs called on the Isle of Man Government to launch a full inquiry.

Jackie's MP, Jason McCartney, told the Commons: "We should ask them, please, to have another look at the death by misadventure verdict."

A statement released ahead of the debate by the Isle of Man Government did not comment on the calls for a new inquiry.

It said: "Officers have assisted by providing information around what is taking place locally to mark the anniversary and reflect on the tragic loss of life half a century ago.

"The centrepiece of the commemorations will be a National Service of Remembrance being held on Sunday 30 July.

"This will be preceded next week by a statement delivered to Tynwald Members by the Chief Minister to mark the 50th anniversary."

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