Drayton Manor Theme Park could face fine up to £2.5 million following water ride death, court told

The Splash Canyon river rapids ride closed after the incident.

Drayton Manor Theme Park could face a fine up to £2.5 million for "organisational" safety failings following a water ride death.

11-year-old Evha Jannath was "propelled" from a vessel on the Splash Canyon river rapids ride at the theme park in Staffordshire during an end-of-year school trip on 9 May 2017.

Last summer, a coroner hearing an inquest into the school girl's death raised six "matters of concern" relating to health and safety procedures before publishing a report to other theme park operators highlighting the issues.

After the incident the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said Drayton Manor Park Ltd would be prosecuted for a breach of health and safety law.

Today (Tuesday 1 December) at Cannock Magistrates' Court barristers for the theme park - which is now in administration - indicated they would enter a guilty plea to the single charge they face, under Section 3 of the Health and Safety at Work Act, which relates to a failure to ensure the safety of park guests.

Giving an outline of the case against Drayton Manor, HSE barrister Ben Mills said: "The prosecution arises from an investigation into the death of an 11-year-old girl called Evha Jannath."

Mr Mills said: "The accident was caused by a constellation of different failures, relating to the safety of the public on the ride."

He added it was the HSE's case failings included "inadequate" signage for those on the ride, "inadequate training" for staff, "an element of under-staffing" and "a lack of emergency planning", while static CCTV "only covered 50% of the course".

Mr Mills said: "The failures were at an organisational level and not levelled at the individuals seeking on the day, no doubt, to do their very best."

Evah Jannath was on a school trip to the theme park in Tamworth in 2017 when the accident happened.

The court heard how Drayton Manor's latest accounts showed it turned over about £24 million in 2019, providing a possible starting point for any fine under the health and safety breach of £950,000- "with a range of £600,000 to £2.5 million".

Richard Matthews QC, representing Drayton Manor, said: "The prosecution's allegations of the extent of the failures and nature of them are something that isn't necessarily all agreed."

He added the allegations would be subject to a more detailed basis of plea, to be submitted to the courts before any sentencing. He said: "It is likely that any sentencing court will have to grapple, in the usual way, with those issues."

Mr Ben Mills also told the court Drayton Manor Park Ltd "has gone into administration" since Evha's death, and that it was "imperative" any sentencing happened before the company was "formally dissolved".

He noted that Drayton Manor's lawyers had agreed to tell prosecutors about any keyfuture developments on the firm's administration process.

On this, Mr Matthews added: For our part, for a great variety of reasons - not least those you've already identified concerning public interest - we will do our upmost to ensure the matter is heard before March 4, next year (and) finally determined."

Both the prosecution and defence asked for the case to be adjourned to a higher court to "reflect the public interest and seriousness of this matter".

District Judge Gregor agreed and committed the case for sentencing to be heard in the new year at Stafford Crown Court.