EXCLUSIVE

SKY HIGH COUNCILLOR SAYS EYE WASN'T SCARED

29-01-2007

Can you imagine the terror of being stuck 450 foot in the air on the London Eye when it's broken down? A Black Country councillor has been telling The Stirrer how she and her sister faced up to the ordeal for more than an hour after a sightseeing trip went wrong.

Mavis Hughes, who's represents Wednesbury North on Sandwell Council had treated her sister to a weekend in the Smoke, culminating in a trip on the Eye on the South Bank yesterday afternoon.

“We got there about 12 o'clock and at first everything seemed fine,” she said.

“But when we got about three quarters of the way around it stopped. And then it just nudged forward very slowly every now and then, until it stopped againwhen we were at the top. And then it just stayed there”

It was then that the party were told over the intercom that there was a problem, but Mavis says that rather than panicking, most of her fellow travellers took the incident in their stride.

“The people in the next pod looked fed up, but we were in with a good crowd. We saw the funny side of it and had a joke and a laugh, though I did feel sorry for some of the children who wanted the toilet”, said Mavis.

“We were also told that there were emergency supplies under the seat including water, but all we found was a first aid kit.

“I wasn't scared, but it did ruin the day because we lost out the chance to do more sight-seeing and had to dash for our coach home. It left at 3, and we didn't get off until quarter past 2.

“That was better than the couple next to us though. Their train left Paddington at 1.30 so they missed it altogether.”

Mavis reckons that she and her sister spent around half of their two and a quarter hour ride at the top of the Eye and says that no one else was allowed to board after they left - although the precise nature of the problem was never explained, nor were any refunds offered.

No one from the London Eye was available for comment.

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