Teenagers start Blue Flyer during overnight break-in
Two teenagers broke into Blackpool Pleasure Beach at night and managed to start the wooden coaster Blue Flyer. After an inspection found no damage, the family coaster returned to operation.
More context
Blue Flyer made the news in June 2016 because of an incident far removed from normal theme park crowds. Two teenagers broke into Blackpool Pleasure Beach at around 4 a.m. and managed to get the wooden family coaster running. According to Looopings, they rode for roughly half an hour before security noticed the intruders at about 4:50 a.m.
The episode did not stop at the coaster. A nearby restaurant was also targeted with a food fight. Police arrested a 15-year-old boy on suspicion of theft. For Blue Flyer itself, the consequences appear to have been limited to the alarm the incident caused. The ride was fully inspected afterwards, no defects were found, and the coaster was able to return to service.
The story is striking precisely because Blue Flyer is a small family coaster rather than a headline thrill ride. It shows why parks treat overnight security and technical lock-off procedures as serious operational matters. Opened in 1934, Blue Flyer is one of Pleasure Beach's nostalgic wooden coasters. This was not a technical milestone for the ride, but it did become an unusual safety-related footnote in its long public history.