thorpe park colossus
The Colossus rollercoaster at Thorpe Park stopped midride when someone stuck a leg out of their carriage. Wikipedia/Stefan Scheer

The huge Colossus rollercoaster ride at Thorpe Park had to be stopped mid-ride and hundreds of passengers walked down the tracks to safety after someone stuck out a leg from a carriage. No-one was injured in the incident, which came weeks after an accident at M&D's amusement park and a year after the crash at Alton Towers which left several seriously injured.

Thorpe Park, near Chertsey in Surrey, is one of the UK's largest and most popular amusement parks. Colossus has a maximum height of 98ft and is 2,789ft long, with carriages reaching speeds of up to 45mph.

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A spokeswoman for Thorpe Park said: "The ride did not malfunction. We stopped the ride because a guest ignored our ride restrictions and put their leg outside of the cart while on board Colossus which was spotted by our vigilant staff on CCTV. Therefore we stopped the ride as soon as possible and evacuated all guests.

"Colossus is back up and running. All guests must keep their arms and legs inside the cart at all times when riding our rollercoasters."

Photographs posted on Twitter showed passengers clambering along tracks to safety. Daniel Pashley wrote: "Rollercoaster stuck at Thorpe Park – guests being walked down to safety."

Several children were among the injured at M&D's in Motherwell on 26 June when a carriage fell off the track. Following the incident on the Smiler at Alton Towers on 2 June 2015 in which several victims lost limbs, the owner admitted health and safety breaches.

The world's worst rollercoaster accident took place at Battersea fun fair in 1972. Five children died when a carriage flipped over trapping them underneath. The "Big Dipper" ride was dismantled soon after the tragedy.