I worked as a ride operator too for about 6 months
No jobs in that part of Cornwall at the time so all I could do was get a job at the theme park when it got to the season start.

What I will say is, anecdotes notwithstanding, when you see how a responsible static park with fairground rides conducts daily maintenance and regular servicing, you start to lose faith in the mobile ones who take them apart and put them back together 52 times a year. I've done various repair jobs on cars / engines / PCs / domestic appliances and nearly always end up with 'bonus parts' after you've supposedly put it back together.

So I don't trust the unqualified grease monkeys that do the same job on the mobile ones, especially if it's a choice between safety and spending a few bob, especially when the last time I dared to go on one of these rides I looked down to see the hydraulic lines being held together with bent coathangers and jubilee clips. Every time I read about an accident at a fairground I feel justified in not touching them with someone elses' barge pole.
( Rotating Wobbly Hat That's not a banana. THIS is a banana., Sun 12 Jun 2011, 21:15, 4 replies)

I too used to work on a static fairground. all you have said is true, and funnily enough, I won't go on rides on the mobiles ones either, for the same reason.
(redexile, Sun 12 Jun 2011, 22:43, closed)

flambards!...?
(The boy with an arse for a face shrining, Mon 13 Jun 2011, 3:23, closed)

alas
yes.
( Rotating Wobbly Hat That's not a banana. THIS is a banana., Mon 13 Jun 2011, 9:39, closed)

Aren't they supposed to be inspected or anything?
I think scaffolding has to be and a lot of the rides would be a lot more dangerous if they failed.
That said -- most things have built in redundancy and surelt it's not that hard to tigten a few bolts? So I would expect if a ride doesn't fail at once then the probability of faliure is a lot less?
(Me, I'm not... in any way intoxicated, Mon 13 Jun 2011, 17:58, closed)