A mother has told of the terrifying moment she and her two young daughters were left suspended 50 feet in the air for more than two hours after a roller coaster broke down at a theme park in Suffolk.
Stacey Stewart, 31, was riding the Wipeout rollercoaster at Pleasurewood Hills in Lowestoft with daughters Poppy, eight, and Marnie, seven, when the ride broke down on a public holiday on Monday.
The family were among 27 thrill-seekers stranded high above the ground after the ride came to a halt before an attempted emergency release sent the carriage lurching backwards through the loops.
“It was horrible, very scary,” Ms Stewart, from Ipswich, told the Daily Mail.
“They had to manually release the ride, which allowed us to shoot backwards. The girls are shocked now and so am I.
“It was horrible just seeing the concrete underneath you.”
Below, her partner Joseph Bowman stood helplessly next to the couple’s two youngest daughters, 10-month-old Raya and three-year-old Isla, as firefighters fought to free the prisoners.
“I could see him and my babies down there,” Mrs. Stewart recalled.
Twenty-seven people were stuck on the Wipeout rollercoaster at Pleasurewood Hills in Lowestoft, Suffolk, for more than two hours on Monday.
The incident happened just before 1.30pm and left the thrill seekers stranded almost 15 meters above the ground
Firefighters were captured as they clambered onto the ride to save mother Stacey Stewart and her two daughters during the harrowing moment
‘As the aerial platform approached the carriage, Isla ran forward and shouted, ‘Mommy, they’re coming to get you.’
“It’s terrible that she witnessed that.”
It is understood that the roller coaster came to a stop mid-ride while changing direction, where it remained for approximately 10 minutes.
According to passengers, the staff then decided to release the carriage so that it could be caught by the emergency braking mechanism. However, the system failed, forcing the car backwards.
One of the people on board was 13-year-old Honey Purkiss, whose mother Karen could only watch from the ground as the dramatic scene unfolded.
Recalling the moment, Honey told the Mail: ‘When I looked at the man at the top of the stairs he had a large metal bar in his hand and was clearly explaining what was going to happen.
“He put the metal rod in to release it and I watched the whole time. When it started to go down, he looked perfectly fine.
‘But when he went past the point where he should have stopped, his face changed.
Ms Stewart visited the Pleasurewood Hills with her family, including partner Joseph Bowman and her four daughters
The riders were left stranded after the ride malfunctioned, before being taken down with aerial platforms by Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service crews.
‘It fell and he looked absolutely shocked. Everyone panicked, we initially thought they had lied to calm us down.”
Powered by the force of the fall, the carriage sped backward through the loops before stopping midway through the second, leaving terrified riders hanging face up in the air.
‘It was terrifying to watch my daughter as she moved slowly and upside down. It wasn’t fun at all,” said Mrs Purkiss, 47, from Norwich.
‘Everyone watching was panicking, many parents of children on the road. They just hung and we watched from the ground.
“I wasn’t worried until they went back to do the loops. Then I really panicked.
“Once it came to a stop, I calmed down a bit. But then your mind starts wondering how they’re going to get down.”
The riders were left stranded after the ride broke down at around 1.30pm, before being taken down by Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service crews using aerial platforms and specialist rescue equipment.
Footage posted by the fire department showed passengers sitting upright in their seats as firefighters boarded the ride.
Honey Purkiss (left) and her friend Morgan were driving when a breakdown occurred
After being stuck high in the air for hours, the thrillseekers were then forced to endure the arduous ‘rollback’ of the ride before they could finally be rescued.
A spokesperson for Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service said on Monday: ‘The carriages, which came to rest on the track, are approximately 15 meters in the air, but not upside down.
“Crews will use advanced height rescue equipment to bring the passengers down.”
The stranded passengers were rescued at 4:05 PM after hanging above the ground for more than two hours.
A spokesperson later said: ‘Firefighters have now rescued all 27 passengers and brought them safely to the ground using our aerial platform and a scissor lift. No one was injured.’
The surf-themed ride opened at Pleasurewood Hills in 2007 and was billed as ‘the highest, fastest and most extreme ride in East Anglia’.
It’s the only Vekoma Boomerang in the country – a kind of roller coaster that shoots down a lift hill before hurtling through a cobra roll and a vertical loop.
In 2017, firefighters had to free an injured man from the roller coaster when the ride broke down.
It stopped working after heavy rain, leaving dozens of people stranded at the highest point before it descended.
The man was rescued with the help of an aerial work platform.
A spokesperson for the theme park told the BBC at the time that it was “a minor incident that was being handled by [our] team’.
The ride underwent a £1 million transformation in 2024/25, including a new train with lap bars for greater comfort and safety.
Pleasurewood Hills describes Wipeout on its website as the ‘ultimate adrenaline rush’.
“Wipeout delivers an unforgettable ride experience, with guests speeding forward through twists, turns, a loop and two cobra rolls, before stopping and riding backwards along the same track for the ultimate backwards thrill,” it reads.
‘With a total of six inversions, this high-octane roller coaster will keep the hearts pumping and the adrenaline flowing from start to finish.’
Pleasurewood Hills has been contacted for comment.
