The consternation was so great that the fair was shut down for twenty minutes in order to free the girl from her very painful condition. The result: a bruised head with a bald spot the size of a boomerang and an uneven haircut. That is also why the parents – who wish to remain anonymous – subscribe to this important message: protect your beautiful long hair when you go to the fair. “At least put a rubber band in it.”
The young Nibbixwoudse had entered the Fun House attraction with three other friends. Visitors have to move past all kinds of moving obstacles and floors. The moment the four girls got to the assembly line, things went very wrong.
“Someone tripped and the whole pups fell over each other with our daughter on the bottom,” says the mother. At that moment, the girl’s long hair swung on the conveyor belt and got caught in the mechanism. The hair was, as it were, ‘eaten’ by the conveyor belt.
Panic
“It took a while for everyone to realize what was going on. The girls could all get up again, our daughter couldn’t, the tire kept running and that made her more and more constrained. It resulted in panic among all the girls.”
Only after a few moments did the Fun House checkout booth realize that something was wrong and the emergency button was pressed. The ride came to a stop, but the damage was already done.
“I wish all operators their bread, because they are already having a hard time after the virus,” emphasizes the mother. “We only care about safety and everyone can contribute to that. Parents can do that by pointing out to their offspring to tie their hair down, but also to the operator. If there had been more supervision at this attraction, the emergency button could have been pressed earlier. It was precisely those moments of wasting time that made the injuries worse and her hair was literally pulled out of her head.”
It’s not just about the unimaginable pain in a 12-year-old, the parents are now mainly looking at the consequences. “This is a nightmare for her,” says the mother. “A large bald spot has emerged the size of a boomerang, where all the hair has been ripped out and we have to wait and see if the hair growth recovers. For a vain 12-year-old that hits hard.”
Danger
Angry at the fair? “Certainly not,” he concludes. “You wish everyone a nice fair, including the children. They want to have fun. We especially want to let you know what the danger is of long hair in an attraction.” Jan Boots of the Nederlandse Kermis Bond in Alkmaar reacts with surprise to the incident. “We assume that all attractions have a safety certificate,” he says. “Because that is obligatory. The inspections are quite strict. There must always be supervision in the rotating part of an attraction. So I do expect that our sector will learn from this.”