TWO MEN TRAPPED ON TOMB RAIDER RIDE
Copyright 2004 www.tombraiderchronicles.com

[ June 23rd 2004 ]

Two men were left suspended 15 feet in the air for two hours when a theme park ride ground to a halt. The pair got trapped on the Robocoaster at Birmingham's Star City complex on Wednesday night. Fire crews tried to free the men from their harnesses by building a platform beneath them to support their weight. The men were eventually released after engineers from the nearby Jaguar factory managed to override the attraction's safety systems. The men were unharmed, but were taken to Heartlands Hospital, in Birmingham, for checks.

The Robocoaster, which was designed by Warwick engineer Gino De-Gol, opened in April. He based the ride on robots that build cars on factory production lines. A 22ft robotic arm seats two people, throwing them in a number of directions so that no two rides are the same. The Robocoaster has appeared in the James Bond film Die Another Day and Tomb Raider II.