Thorpe Park thrillseekers trapped 30ft up on vertical track as ‘world’s most terrifying roller coaster’ grinds to halt

THRILLSEEKERS have told of the moment they became stranded 30 feet off the ground when a roller coaster car became jammed on a VERTICAL incline.

Eight passengers had to be lowered to safety from the stricken leading car on the 100-ft Saw ride at Thorpe Park park in Chertsey, Surrey on Saturday afternoon.

A further eight passengers were stuck in the second carriage nearer ground level.

Operational workers at the popular theme park rushed to scene and worked to get all those on board safely to the ground.

But it still took one hour and 45 minutes to get everybody off the multi-million pound terror ride.

One of those on board was Victoria Pertusa, of Alicante, who said on Twitter: "Stuck on the Saw ride at Thorpe Park for over hour and a half. No compensation."

Another thrill seeker 'DnoHall' posted that he had only gone on the terrifying ride to conquer his fears.

He wrote: "Tried to conquer my fears by going on the Saw ride at Thorpe Park..stopped half way upside down for an hour."#neveragain."

Today bosses at the huge theme park revealed they managed to get everybody off the ride safely and didn't even need the help of firefighters who were on site practising.

The Saw, which is themed on the horror film of the same name, is billed as  "the world's most terrifying roller coaster", was closed yesterday afternoon after the scare.

Reports from those at the park today claim the roller coaster was also closed for parts of today for reported 'safety reasons'.

One onlooker said: "It was awful, one of the cars was stranded and everyone on board was clearly very distressed. They had to be rescued."

Saw - The Ride is the world's first themed on a horror movie and when it opened boasted the steepest drop on a coaster of 100°.

It is located next to Samurai, and sits on reclaimed land in its own area in the park.

With a height of 100ft, a heavily-themed dark ride section, and three inversions throughout the ride, Saw is certainly one of the Park's big ticket items.

A Thorpe Park spokesperson told the Sun online: "An assisted exit is when our team manually remove guests from the attraction.

"As part of our safety procedures harnesses are used on specific parts of rides as a safety precaution – no one was lowered on a harness, it was an added safety measure.

"The total time it took to clear the attraction was one hour and 45 minutes.

"We allow the fire brigade access to our lake, their presence at site was not related to Saw stopping.

"The ride was taken out of action today to add additional cars because we are busy."