A HAMPSHIRE mum has told how she feared for her safety as she hurtled around the world's first ten-loop rollercoaster without being properly strapped in.

Terrified Nicky Race-Oak said she was forced to cling on to an unlocked shoulder harness, worried she would be thrown from the ride on to the concrete below after staff at Thorpe Park failed to check and fasten her lap safety belt.

Despite frantically screaming at workers to stop the Colossus ride, the mum-of-three had to endure 90 seconds of horror at speeds of up to 50mph before the train came to a halt.

Yesterday the theme park insisted that the ride was safe and that the lap strap was a secondary restraint.

It added that the ride could not have left the station without the primary locking restraints securing the shoulder harness.

But Mrs Race-Oak, from Southampton, said that other onlookers were also yelling warnings to staff that she had not been strapped in.

"I was screaming stop the ride, stop the ride. Staff just looked at me as if I had two heads," she said.

"When I left the station I knew it wasn't going to stop.

Mrs Race-Oak, 35, from Mansel Road East, Millbrook, said that her nine-year-old son Kaine, who was beside her, and husband Kevin behind, were left watching helplessly without being able to help.

"She said. "Kaine was crying. It was a horrific experience. I was a dribbling mess. I was shaking. My knuckles were white. None of the staff came to help me."

She said when she went to complain she felt insulted when bosses only offered her five free tickets, though they added that they had now replaced all the staff on the ride for the afternoon.

Mrs Race-Oak said that her children, Aaron, 13, Kaine, and Brandon, six, had suffered nightmares following the £105 experience at Thorpe Park and she suffered whiplash and swollen feet and knuckles.

She added: "I love rides. But at the moment I feel too frightened to go on one again."

Mrs Race-Oak said she now wanted to know why staff failed to check her safety belt and what procedures the park were going to put in place to make sure it did not happen again.

A spokesperson for the Surrey-based park said: "The primary locking restraints on Colossus are two separate hydraulic cylinders that independently secure the shoulder harness - it is not possible for the ride to leave the station without these in full operation.

"The lap strap is a tertiary restraint and was included in the specification by the manufacturer as an added measure.

"The health, safety and welfare of our guests is the primary concern of Thorpe Park."