Brighton’s Palace Pier has banned people using selfie sticks on its fairground rides after people were seen using them while upside down on rollercoasters.
Selfie sticks, which hold smartphones on short poles so people can take pictures of themselves, have been banned from a wide range of visitor attractions over the past year – and the Palace Pier has now followed suit.
The pier management don’t allow any personal items like bags and cameras to be taken on rides – but have put up notices specifically banning the smartphone accessory after a string of people were spotted using them.
Pier manager Ann Martin said: “We found that people like to use these things and we have seen people using them on rides. It’s purely in case they drop one and it falls to the ground and hits someone, or get tangled up in the mechanism.
“People don’t seem to think that they’re classed as an item when we say you’re not allowed to take anything on a ride, and all of a sudden they get this stick out and they’re taking a picture of themselves.
“You see people upside down on a rollercoaster with one sticking out – it’s not the safest thing to do.”
The pier is the latest visitor attraction to have specifically banned the use of selfie sticks. Earlier this year, Disney announced it was banning them from the grounds of all its theme parks entirely.
