A FAULTY piece of equipment on a fairground ride has still not been replaced more than four months after it flew off and struck a teenager.

The Air Race ride on Brighton’s Palace Pier fell apart when a decorative wing attachment came loose and smashed into a boy who was standing nearby.

Police, fire and ambulance crews rushed to the scene.

Police cordoned off the area and closed the attraction as they dealt with the incident.

The boy was carried off the pier on a stretcher with an injury to his leg.

He was then transferred to an ambulance and taken to hospital.

Hove resident Milo Macpherson, 12, who was on the ride at the time of the incident, told The Argus: “Half-way through we heard a rattle and then a boom. Then it happened again.

“Then on the third time the bottom flew off and skidded along the ground and went over the fence.

“My legs were dangling off the ride – I was so nervous.

“I didn’t know if anything else was going to fall off.

“The bit that flew off was so big, I could have been killed.”

Since the incident, all wing attachments and connecting materials have been removed from the ride for investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

The ride is now back in action and has returned to running its regular service, without the attachments.

Anne Ackord, chief executive at the Brighton Pier Group, told The Argus: “The wings, and more specifically their bolts, were taken for testing at the time and have not been returned yet so we are operating the ride without. They are decorative elements only, not integral to the ride.

“The ride is fully tested and back in action with the full approval of the HSE.”

Asked why the wings had not been replaced, more than four months after the incident, Ms Ackord said: “The reason is simple, the HSE have a heavy workload and so it may be many months before they are returned.

“If they felt any part was unsafe they would not be allowing the other operators of this ride to continue opening.

“It is not uncommon for any testing to take well over a year.”

An HSE spokesman also responded to The Argus’s inquiry and said the organisation was still looking into the incident.

He said: “HSE is aware that the ride has reopened following satisfactory replacements of the footplates.

“HSE’s investigation into the circumstances of the incident remains ongoing.”