Thrill-seekers were left stranded in mid-air for 15 minutes after a theme park ride broke down – with a blind child among those left high and dry.

The incident happened at the Barry Island Pleasure Park in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, on Good Friday (April 7), with engineers left working to fix a fault.

Management at the park have since apologised and will offer riders a free voucher following the error on the Top Scan ride, but some parents have since criticised staff for allegedly not telling them what was going on or when the issue might be fixed.

READ MORE: Theme park terror as new £3m ride loses power leaving people stuck 214ft in air

Dad Nick Linsey, 31, told WalesOnline: “My whole family were on the ride and there was a younger blind kid on there as well and I felt uncomfortable with that because no-one was giving any information.

"Before the ride started a guy had a screwdriver out and he was fixing things at the back of the seats," adding:"It must have been 20 minutes while people were sitting on the ride.

“The ride started and things seemed to be going all right and then it came to a stop and the music stopped and no-one was really saying anything.

“Another five or 10 minutes passed and then another guy came with a harness and he was fiddling around with a button and eventually they got let down. My brother was on the ride and he gets quite anxious with rides anyway."

Nick said he saw people gathered around the ride "looking around a bit confused" as the riders continued to be raised aloft.

But amusement park owner Henry Danter said he was satisfied with the response of his staff, and blamed the fault on a power cut potentially caused by water or damp.

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He added: “When you have a cut out like that you lower it to the floor which they did, and you’ve got to check everything,”

“A trip went out but before you can start it up again you need to lower it and check everything," going on to say: "99% of the time it’s caused by water and damp but we couldn’t be sure of that so we followed the procedure which does take 10 to 15 minutes.

“The ride carried on running for the rest of the day and we found there was nothing wrong. It was probably just damp, or because it hadn’t been used all winter and it had been refurbished.

Mr Danter added that checks were performed every morning at the theme park and pointed to its "very good safety record", before going on to say: "I’ve been operating rides for over 70 years and I’ve never had more than a bump, bruise or broken nail.

"I’m very upset this happened but I’m satisfied the proper procedure was taken. I send them my apologies and I’d be very pleased to meet them and I’ll give them free rides or something."

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