Dad breaks back on Waltzer ride at amusement park

A dad who took his kids on a trip to an amusement park has told how he broke his back on a Waltzer ride. Craig Knight, 35, has spoken out from his hospital bed after being left in agony with a fractured spine.

With the start of the school holidays underway, Mr Knight took his children, Logan and Cassie, and a friend of theirs to Coney Beach Amusement Park in Porthcawl, South Wales, on Wednesday.

Mr Knight, a contracts manager, claimed that during the ride, in an area where the cart spins and the ramps create a bump, 'the cart derailed and lifted from the track'. He said it caused him to feel a 'crunch' in his back.

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After the incident he was taken off the ride and told how he was left on the ground for around an hour and a half waiting for an ambulance in heavy rain. He is now at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff.

Sending WalesOnline an account of the incident from his hospital bed Mr Knight, originally from Cardiff but now of Newport, wrote: "I was at the fairground with my family. I was on the Waltzer when the attendant span us fairly fast, where the carts spin and the ramps create a bumpy ride, the cart has derailed and lifted from the track, causing me to feel a crunch in my back."

Mr Knight's partner, Katie Cusack, said: "I had a phone call from my daughter probably about 1.30pm crying telling me 'dad's on the floor and he can't move'. He went on the Waltzer ride with the kids and said as they were spinning around, the whole seating area just jolted in the air and lifted off the racks and when it landed he said he heard a crunch in his back.

"His face went white, and my son started screaming for them to stop