Residents living near the Yiewsley funfair have expressed their shock and anger that Funderpark continued to open after a woman was seriously injured when she fell from a ride.

A woman in her 40s was rushed to hospital with "serious injuries" on Tuesday night (April 10) after she came off the Xlerator ride - hitting her head and landing metres away next to the fence of another ride.

But the funfair, which was scheduled to remain at Philpots Farm through to Sunday (April 15), reopened on Wednesday (April 11).

A petition has been set up and signed by more than 700 people calling for Funderpark to be banned - labelling the fairs decision to carry on trading "disrespectful."

People can be seen on the Swings ride, next to Xlerator, just a day after the incident

"Shocked and disgusted" at the fairs decision to continue to open, George and Dragon bartender Ann-Marie Portch, pledged to sign the petition.

She said: "We don’t want any of it after that happened. I can’t believe they’d reopen.

"I was sat outside [on Wednesday, April 11] on my cigarette break and saw one of the rides go up and my stomach just fell.

"When you compare it to [what happened at The Smiler crash in 2015 at] Alton Towers, the first thing they did was reassure people.

"Why haven’t the owners [of Funderpark] said anything? I think that says a lot about the people running it.

"I’m definitely signing the petition. It makes you think when it happens so close to home, it could have been my nephew.

"But when someone is seriously injured, surely human decency comes before money? I think it speaks volumes about the people running it and I think locals would have had a different approach otherwise."

It is believed the injured woman was at the funfair with her daughter who was on the ride with her at the time of the incident.

In the days after the incident, police remained on the scene while health and safety inspectors checked the Xlerator ride - but people carried on taking turns on the other rides at the fair.

A mum who was considering going to the fair with her family said: "We were planning to go but we didn't know about the (injured woman)."

The woman, who did not want to be named, added: "I'm just waiting for my husband so we can go together with the kids but I'm going to have a discussion with him to see if we should still go. Why would they still open it?

Funderpark made the decision to re-open after the incident

Another Yiewsley resident said: "I don't think it should be open, there should be an enquiry and they shouldn't be allowed to open until the enquiry has been seen to."

But a father from Cowley "enjoyed" a visit to the fair on Thursday (April 12). "We wasn't aware of what happened", he said.

The dad who gave his name as Daniel, added: "As the adult, it's my responsibility to look after the children so I'm careful with what rides I let them go on."

'It's not an easy decision to take'

Ray Smith, health and safety advisor at Funderpark, explained the decision to reopen was made between the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the police, and the organiser of the fair.

He told getwestlondon : "If the HSE or the police had concerns about the safety of the fair, they wouldn't allow it (to reopen).

"They gave permission for it to be reopened and the decision was taken to reopen on the basis that it was an accident on one ride - it was contained.

"It wasn't out of disrespect to the lady, but out of respect to the rest of the public. It's not an easy decision to take because the atmosphere of the staff was very down.

"But the view that closing and moving away would be wrong, because it would look like a failure of the people working at the fair, not the ride.

"There's been no evidence that the operators or organisers have done anything wrong whatsoever. The entire investigation is over the ride itself."

Anyone who witnessed the incident is urged to call police.

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