Fairground firm fined over death

Erin Griffin died after falling at the Rotunda Amusement Park
An amusement park firm has been fined £25,000 and ordered to pay a total of £155,000 in costs and compensation after an eight-year-old girl died when she fell from a rollercoaster.

Dreamland Leisure Ltd, the owners of the Rotunda Amusement Park in Folkestone, Kent, had denied breaching health and safety laws.

Erin Griffin died the day after falling from a ride at the park and hitting her head in September 1999, Maidstone Crown Court heard.

At the end of a five-and-a-half week trial the company was found guilty and fined and ordered to pay compensation to the dead girl's mother.

Erin, from Adisham, near Dover in Kent, was nearing the end of her third ride on the mini-dragon rollercoaster when she fell out.

She hit her head on a metal part of the ride as she fell to the ground and died in hospital the next day.

Dreamland Leisure Ltd was found guilty of failing to ensure passengers were properly contained in the ride under the Health and Safety at Work Act.

Judge David Croft fined Dreamland Leisure Ltd £25,000, ordered it to pay £140,000 costs and £15,000 compensation to Erin's mother Michelle Griffin.

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