Fairground ride owner in £15k fine

The owner of a fairground ride which "catastrophically" failed - sending a carriage hurtling through the air and leaving a woman wheelchair-bound - has been ordered to pay £20,000.

The company which gave the faulty Orbiter ride a clean bill of health just weeks before the accident in Bilston has also been ordered to pay £35,000 compensation to the victim.

Jessica Oseland, aged 28, from Bradley, Bilston, broke her neck and spent months in a specialist recovery unit after being flung from a ride at an annual fair in Great Bridge Road, four years ago.

The trainee teacher was riding on the Orbiter - a rotating vertical pole with arms holding a cluster of seats - when her car broke free and flew 45 ft through the air then hit the ground.

Ride owner Thomas Jones, 29, of St Anne's Road, Cradley, was ordered to pay a £15,000 fine and £5,000 of costs at Wolverhampton Crown Court yesterday, while Fairground Inspection Services Ltd were told to pay Miss Oseland £35,000.

Jonathan Bates, prosecuting for the Health and Safety Executive, said tests after the accident revealed cracks in welds holding 13 of the 17 remaining carriages.