Health and Safety Executive to investigate Oakwood Theme Park incident

The Wales Air Ambulance was called to the park near Canaston Bridge early this afternoon, Sunday October 23.

The park was busy with visitors enjoying the first of three Hallowe’en-themed weekends.

The incident at the long-established park is understood to have taken place at the Treetops roller-coaster.

Along with the Wales Air Ambulance, the Welsh Ambulance Service and Dyfed-Powys Police were called to the scene.

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• Visitors evacuated from Oakwood Theme Park as Air Ambulance lands

Visitors were evacuated from the park after the Wales Air Ambulance was called to the scene. (Image: Newsquest)Bewildered visitors were hurriedly evacuated from the park ahead of its closure, with one mother saying that the atmosphere was ‘sombre’.

The park - which was first opened by the McNamara family in 1987  – is currently owned by the Spanish-owned leisure operator Aspro.

It was sold to the group following the tragic death in 2004 of 16-yeat-old Hayley Williams, who fell 100 feet from the theme park's white-knuckle Hydro ride.

In 2008, Oakwood Leisure, as the owner at the time of the tragedy, was prosecuted for a breach of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

Itwas fined £250,000 and ordered to pay £80,000 costs and a £15 victim surcharge.

A spokesperson for the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) confirmed today that a man had been airlifted to hospital by the Wales Air Ambulance, and that the HSE is taking the lead in investigating the incident.

The HSE is called in to investigate an incident ‘where there is a workplace element’, said the spokesperson.

“We invstigate Health and Safety law and Health and Safety breaches.

“We need to find out what, if anything, has happened at Oakwood Theme Park today, and we need to establish is there is a work-related element involved.

“We will continue to work alongside the Dyfed-Powys Police in the investigation.”