Mum's heartache as she feared for son's life following freak accident on London funfair ride
30 August 2019, 15:35
The 12-year-old boy broke both of his legs in a horrific accident that occurred this week.
A mum has shared the tale of her traumatic ordeal after she believed her son's life was at risk following a freak accident that happened during the summer holidays.
On Tuesday evening, Theo Shaw, 12, was flung from the 'Extreme' ride at Benson's funfair in Brockwell Park, south London and suffered major injuries.
READ MORE: Love Island's Theo Campbell loses sight in one eye after shock accident
Ambulances rushed to the scene as his mother, Aileen O'Brien received a phone call telling her son had been involed in a "terrible accident".
Poor Theo was taken to the nearby King's College Hospital with multiple injuries including two broken legs, a broken thumb and facial damage and is still recovering at the hospital right now.
Aileen, 49, was not at funfair when the incident occurred but at home with her husband Adam.
When they received the phone call they ran from the family home to the park, Aileen told the Evening Standard.
She said: “We live quite near the park so my husband Adam and I ran there. It was very upsetting.
“It looked terrible when I arrived. He could have died. He was awake when we got there, in an awful lot of pain.
“He had clearly broken his leg and it was badly broken, he had a massive cut to his head.
“It’s not nice seeing your child in so much pain, as I have in the last day.”
Mrs O’Brien, who works as a psychiatrist is demanding an answer about how the freak accident happened.
The mum-of-three continued: “He had just gone to the park for the afternoon and he’d only gone on one ride.”
Theo now faces undergoing an operation to fix his legs and won't be able to return to school at the same time as his peers.
“He is going to be scarred for life, he is in a lot of pain.
"A plastic surgeon is going to look at his head as well, and we don’t know how long he’ll be in hospital.”
The fair has been at the park since August 23 and is set to leave this Sunday, on September 1.
According to the Evening Standard, Benson's website described “Extreme” as a “high-adrenaline, high-thrill” ride.
It was closed after the incident with Theo.
Benson's have since deleted all of their social media and taken down their website and any contact details.
The Metropolitan Police said its officers attended the scene shortly before 6pm after being called by the London Ambulance Service.
A spokesman for the Health and Safety Executive said it would be investigating the incident.
A Lambeth council spokesman said: “We are aware of this incident and wish the teenager a speedy recovery.
"We are working with the HSE and the police to investigate the cause of this incident, and to determine what action needs to be taken.”
