Visitors evacuated from West Midland Safari Park following power cut
Visitors were evacuated from rides at West Midland Safari Park on one of its busiest days of the year following a power cut which affected 2,000 nearby homes.
People were stranded on rides, including the Twister Coaster and Wild River Rafting, for less than 10 minutes after electricity went down at the attraction around 2.45pm yesterday.
Bumper visitor numbers were expected at the safari park over the weekend which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year.
In total, 2,216 homes and properties in Bewdley and nearby Wribbenhall were affected without power for up to an hour and 38 minutes.
Officials from Western Power Distribution said the power failure had been due to a cable fault in the area.
Park staff were able to evacuate people from the rides quickly using "well-rehearsed emergency protocols".
Only one car on the Twister Coaster was in use at the time and was manually wheeled down the track.
Bosses at the attraction said the fire service did not need to be called to rescue anyone and everyone was off the rides within 10 minutes.
Head keeper Bob Lawrence said: "We have well-rehearsed procedures in place for situations like this one and they proved effective.
"There were no complaints from people on the rides and the whole thing went very smoothly."
He said around 50 people had been on the raft ride at the time of the outage.
Cars full of visitors streamed out of the park following the power cut yesterday on the busy Bank Holiday Monday.
The power was restored at the safari park by 4.10pm.
A spokesman for Western Power Distribution said: "The problem was due to a cable fault in the area. Once we isolate the location of the fault we can make the repairs. All our customers were switched back on within an hour and 38 minutes."
Engineers were hoping to repair the faulty cable overnight.
Bosses at the attraction only recently opened the new £750,000 Realm of the Lions experience to visitors.
The new project, which spans almost seven-and-a-half acres, will also serve as a new reserve for the park's pride of 13 African lions.
