Woman, 21, who was flung 15 feet from a fairground ride ‘like a ragdoll’ and broke her jaw says she’s lucky to be alive as she relives horrific ordeal
- Jade Harrison was thrown around 15ft from the AirMaxxx 360 ride at Hull Fair
- The 21-year-old was left with a broken jaw and lost a tooth in the horror accident
- She was flung from the ride at the travelling fair, and smashed into a teenage boy
A young woman has said she is ‘lucky to be alive’ after she was thrown 15ft from a ride at a travelling fairground.
Jade Harrison suffered a broken jaw and lost a tooth when she was flung through the air ‘like a ragdoll’ at the Hull Fairground.
The 21-year-old was thrown from the Airmaxx 360 into a teenage boy and had to undergo a two-hour operation, requiring metal plates in her jaw.
Former waitress Ms Harrison fears the accident could stop her from starting her new job at a call centre.
Jade Harrison says she will never be the same again after her accident at Hull Fair
The 21-year-old was thrown into a teenage boy on a nearby attraction and had to undergo a two-hour operation, requiring metal plates in hr jaw.
Today she said she wants to see the Airmaxx 360 ride, which ‘could have killed her’, scrapped for good.
Ms Harrison, who is too upset and embarrassed to show her face in new photographs, is still unable to smile nine days after the accident and faces weeks on liquid food.
She said she had pulled down her own safety barrier before the attendant came and took her £3 ride fare and fastened the seatbelt.
Ms Harrison said: ‘I pulled the safety bar down myself as soon as I got on as I get paranoid that rides are going to set off without my barrier being down. My life was left relying on an old seat belt.
‘I remember the process of getting on the ride, and as it started the barrier clicked a bit, so I thought that was fine.
‘We must have been half way through the ride, it was bouncing a lot, spinning us around, but then the actual carriage position of it changed, so all our weight was facing forwards onto the bar. My body was being pushed forwards and into the barrier.
‘It started to bounce and that’s when remember it tilting – I was worried about coming out but that’s the last thing I remember.
‘I remember the sensation of falling out. I didn’t know I had been flown through the air like a ragdoll until my mum told me in hospital. People thought I was dead.’
Jade fell from what is believed to be the AirMaxxx 360 ride just before 8pm and landed on the base of a nearby ride, thought to be The Sizzler. Pictured, police at the scene
Ms Harrison is still unable to smile nine days after the accident and faces weeks on liquid food. Pictured, the scene on October 7
Ms Harrison said she came to at the fairground with a mouth full of blood.
She added: ‘I feel lucky to be alive, or to have come away from this without a brain or spinal injury which would have left me paralysed for life.
‘Really small children are allowed to go on these fast rides at the fair.
‘I’m angry this could have happened to my little sister, it could have happened to a child, and they might not have been as fortunate as me.’
She added: ‘My face is still really swollen, I can’t smile, it worries me that my mouth will never feel the same again, I also have a big gash on my chin which was sewn up.’
Ms Harrison has now instructed lawyers to carry out a ‘full and transparent’ investigation.
Garry Leach, chairman of the Showmen’s Guild, said ride operators were ‘devastated’ and doing all they could to assist the Health and Safety Executive, which is leading the investigation.
But Hull Fair bosses said visitors have more chance of being ‘struck by lightning in Sainsbury’s’ than being thrown off a ride.