A SCHOOLGIRL who was left trapped on a theme park rollercoaster for nearly four hours has spoken out about her ordeal.

Mairead Cashin was supposed to be enjoying a trip out for a friend’s birthday at Chessington World of Adventures on Sunday.

But the day ended in disaster when the group of three ended up trapped on the Rameses Revenge due to a fault and had to be cut free.

Thirteen-year-old Mairead, who lives in Pirton, said she and her friends were trapped on the ride at the Surrey themepark for three hours and 45 minutes. They were about 20 feet off the ground.

The group were left with bruises from the harness and sunburn from being exposed for so long.

“We had been on the ride for about 15 seconds, it was only just warming up really, then it just completely stopped,” said Mairead, a Year 8 pupil at St Francis College in Letchworth GC.

“It all of a sudden just went, but we all just thought it was some part of the ride. After five minutes we knew something was up.

“We didn’t know what to do. We couldn’t hear any announcements because the microphone was muffled and everyone was talking and panicking.”

Mairead said it took about 90 minutes before the fire service was called. When firefighters arrived, they started to cut people free.

“At first, we were really calm,” said Mairead.

“But after a while, when the fire service came, everyone was getting really worried and everybody was crying. One person had an asthma attack. “I was so happy (when I was freed). We could only move the bottom of our legs, we could barely move our arms.”

In a statement, Chessington said: “The Rameses Revenge experienced a technical problem. This resulted in the automatic fail-safe system bringing the ride to a controlled stop. Experienced resort staff were on site immediately to assist with guest care.

“No guests were injured in the incident. A small number of people were on the ride at the time and the resort’s engineers worked with the emergency services implementing well-rehearsed procedures to ensure their comfort and safe removal from the ride.

“We are very sorry for any discomfort our guests experienced during the delay.”