Woman at Hull Fair flung from Airmaxx 360 fairground ride at 60mph after malfunction

A woman was flung from a fairground ride at 60mph after the metal bar across her lap gave way. Jade Harrison was hurled from the Airmaxx 360 ride at Hull Fair when the ride malfunctioned - and left with a broken jaw and struggling to breathe.

The pre-school teacher, from Hull, received a five-figure settlement from the insurers of the ride’s owners - Taylor's Funfairs - who admitted liability for the accident, which happened in October 2019. Now, the 27-year-old has spoken of how she visited the fair each year with friends, but had never before ridden the attraction - which spins in circles at high speed while rising and falling.

“I wasn’t planning on going on any rides,” Jade said. “But my friend wanted to go on the Airmaxx 360. I didn’t want to be left on my own. I watched it go around and I thought, ‘no that’s alright I’ll go on that’.”

However, 90 seconds into that fateful ride, Jade said she heard a strange clicking sound from her seat restraint, but brushed it off when her friend said theirs had done the same - but then the carriage began to shift and changed position. “I just remember thinking I don’t like that, I don’t like that,” she said. “And then it was too late. As soon as the ride started bouncing the bar just gave away.”

Jade was hurled from the ride, hitting another attraction in mid-air before crashing to the ground. She blacked out instantly. “All I remember is the feeling of flipping like you do in a dream when you wake up startled,” she went on. “When I came to I was lying on the floor next to the ride but everyone was just around me and I was a bit confused.

“I kind of forgot where I was and what I was doing so it took me a minute to realise what had happened. Then obviously I started panicking and everyone was telling me to calm down. It felt like ages for the paramedics to get there but in reality it was only about two minutes.”

She was rushed to Hull Royal Infirmary where she was found to have a broken jaw requiring surgery and metal plates, as well as suffering serious nerve damage to her right thigh, which remains numb to this day, internal bruising to her chest, facial injuries and damaged teeth that needed removal and repair.

“The most painful part was my chest,” she said. “I couldn’t sit up or take a deep breath. When I got home, I couldn’t get out of bed without my partner’s help.”

Jade spent four days in hospital and was unable to return to work for nearly a year after the incident. She continued to undergo dental work until 2021 and said the mental recovery took just as long. “I was in denial in the beginning. It was hard for me to accept that it happened to me,” she said. “I would constantly tell myself I’m not going to think about it, I’m not going to think about it. But by doing that I was just delaying pain.

“When I think about it deeply and I think how differently it could have gone I think I’m lucky to be alive. When I came off my ride I hit the ride next to me. They even said if I had hit that ride differently I would be dead. There was no way of surviving. Luckily I hit the ride the way that I did so I hit the carriage, rather than the floor or anything else.”

A criminal investigation by the Health and Safety Executive was dropped in 2023, though a report found safety restraints on the Airmaxx 360 were “inadequate”.

As for Jade, she hasn’t returned to a fairground since. “I would never go on a fairground ride again.” she said. “I’ve been on the teacups with my nephew, but that’s about as far as I’ll go. Anything where my feet leave the ground isn’t happening.”

Taylor's Funfairs has been contacted for comment.