£1 million fine will never be paid after 11-year-old's death at Drayton Manor theme park
The former operators of Drayton Manor theme park have been fined £1 million after a schoolgirl died on a water rapids ride - but the fine will never be paid.
Evha Jannath, 11, was "propelled" into the water on the Splash Canyon ride at Drayton Manor in Staffordshire during an end-of-year school trip in 2017.
During a two-day sentencing at Stafford Crown Court, lawyers for the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said the theme park's operators oversaw "systemic failures of safety" on the river rapids ride after they "failed to take the action that could have prevented Evha's death."
The judge said, "this was an utterly tragic waste of a young life," but acknowledged that the fine will not be paid, because the company operating the park at the time has gone into administration, and been sold.
Drayton Manor theme park death exposed ‘systemic failures of safety’, court told
Five mistakes which led to the death of Evha Jannath at Drayton Manor theme park
Aerial footage of Drayton Manor's Splash Canyon ride shortly after the incident in 2017.
Evha's family said today that the four years since her death have been "torture" and they remain devastated by her loss. They say there is "a hole in the heart of the family" and will never forget Little Evha.
A member of the family's community in Leicester, Suleman Nagdi, says the fact that none of the money will be paid is "an insult to the memory of this lovely girl who has lost her life."
The family solicitor said,
"This is one of the saddest cases we as a firm have ever had to deal with.
We are well known for acting on behalf of the Armed Forces and their families but when a case involves a child on a fun day out which ends in such needless tragedy it impacts on us all.
Our heart goes out to Evha's family and friends."- Hilary Meredith, of Hilary Meredith Solicitors
Lyn Spooner, HSE Principal Inspector
The park's current owners have issued a statement,
“Drayton Manor Resort acquired the Park out of insolvency in the summer of 2020 when it was forced into insolvency due to coronavirus.
We are unable to comment on the outcome of the case as it involves the insolvent business, Drayton Manor Park Limited, which is no longer the owner or operator of the Park.
Our thoughts are with the Jannath family and all those affected by the tragedy at this time.”
What happened on the day?
Evha Jannath and four friends from Jameah Girls Academy in Leicester boarded one of the boats on the Splash Canyon river rapids.
Mid-way through the ride, Evha stood up, reached into the water, and fell in.
The emergency stop button was not pressed because the operator had not seen Evha fall in and needed to check CCTV - which only covered 50% of the ride.
It was then 18 minutes before staff managed to reach her, but by then it was too late.
Despite advance life support by air ambulance medics, the schoolgirl was pronounced dead less than two hours later at Birmingham Children’s Hospital.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted the park for not properly ensuring the safety of its guests, with Drayton Manor admitting breaching Section 3 of the Health and Safety at Work Act.
The HSE found inadequate or faded signage telling passengers to stay seated, inadequate staff training, an element of under-staffing and a lack of emergency planning for the ride, which opened in 1993.
Following the sentencing on March 18, Mr Justice Spencer said "the individual members of staff were not to blame, it was the system that was at fault."
The judge added: "no sentence he imposed could reflect the tragedy of this case for Evha's family."
Watch Rajiv Popat's full report:
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