Woman in fairground crash says Starflyer went backwards, then dropped

A woman who was injured when a fairground ride failed has spoken of the terrifying moment it crashed to the ground while she was mid-air.

Louise Brown was on the 55m-high City Starflyer ride in Birmingham city centre when it lurched backwards before dropping on Thursday evening.

Two women were taken to hospital while another 11 patients were assessed by paramedics and discharged at the scene.

"This can never happen again - we are in shock and all I can think of is what if my kids were on the ride," Ms Brown said.

Birmingham City Council said it was aware of the incident and that its thoughts were with the people who had been injured.

The Health and Safety Executive has also been informed.

Brian Hughes, chairman of Westside Business Improvement District (BID), said: "While we are relieved to have heard that no-one has received life-threatening injuries, this must have been a terrible incident to experience."

He said Westside BID had spoken to the owners of Ice Skate Birmingham, which operates the ride.

"We know that they will now be working closely with the authorities to find out exactly what went wrong," he added.

The City Starflyer ride, provided by funfair suppliers Danter Attractions, has been described as "one of the tallest rides around".

The company declined to comment when contacted, PA Media reported.