This is the moment a team of maintenance engineers at Thorpe Park marked the 200th anniversary of the rollercoaster with a dizzying celebratory lunch - 200ft above the ground!

Sat atop the Stealth ride, some 205ft in the air, ahead of the park's 2017 opening on Thursday (March 23), the team calmly tucked into a well-earned bit of cake.

The celebrations came as they took a break from the annual pre-opening safety checks , tucking into birthday cake while sporting festive party hats on top of their helmets.

It took the workmen 20 minutes to scale the incredible Chertsey attraction, which is the same height as four double decker buses stacked vertically.

Maintenance engineers celebrated the 200th anniversary of the rollercoaster on top of Stealth

Using harnesses and ropes to scale the rides, the engineers spend 11,500 man-hours meticulously checking every inch of the amusement park - that’s 13,552.9ft of track and 11,766 nuts and bolts.

More than 10 million litres of oil is used to maintain the rides, which equates to around four Olympic swimming pools.

The first rollercoasters with wheeled vehicles on tracks appeared in Paris in 1817 - the Les Montagnes Russes à Belleville (The Russian Mountains of Belleville) and the Promenades Aeriennes in Parc Beacon.

Some 200 years on and Thorpe Park Resort is a household name in Europe as the destination for thrill-seekers.

Using harnesses and ropes to scale the rides, the engineers spend 11,500 man-hours meticulously checking every inch of the amusement park

It continues to expand and evolve, and this year sees the arrival of Derren Brown’s Ghost Train: Rise of the Demon which not only has ride movement, but also special effects, VR, live action and illusion.

The engineers’ winter maintenance season came to an end on Wednesday, as the park looks forward to re-opening its doors.

Checks are also carried out in the early hours of the morning, throughout the day and late into the night during open season.

Dominic Jones, divisional director at Thorpe Park, said: "The first rollercoaster 200 years ago was very different from the rides we see today.

The engineers celebrate as they take a break from the annual pre-opening safety checks

"From guide rails and low speeds we’ve seen the rollercoaster progress and continue to defy adrenaline junkie’s dreams, with vertical loops, higher speeds and explosive drops."

Thorpe Park

Thorpe Park reopens on Thursday (March 23).

It will feature a new, even scarier element of Derren Brown's infamous Ghost Train ride too.