One of Britain’s largest theme parks, Chessington World of Adventures, has been evacuated as emergency services rush in following reports of a threat
One of the UK’s biggest theme parks, Chessington World of Adventures, has been evacuated after emergency services swooped in following reports of a threat. Guests and staff were told to vacate the resort on Leatherhead Road earlier this morning in what has caused significant disruption to visitors.
A closure notice released today stated: “Chessington World of Adventures Resort is currently closed. LEGOLAND Windsor or alternatively, you can contact our Customer Services team after 2pm today. We apologise for any inconvenience caused and will provide a further update as soon as possible.”
Police officers and sniffer dogs were spotted around the area, although the incident surrounding the theme park’s closure is unclear.
A social media account delivering updates on the park, Chessington Buzz, said there had been a park-wide evacuation. It said: “We’re aware there is a parkwide evacuation of Chessington currently and, as is often standard, the attendance of emergency services.”
The message continued to say: “let the teams do their jobs”.
There were reports circulating that the incident was due to a “threat”, but this has not been confirmed. The Metropolitan Police has urged the public not to speculate about the incident while enquiries are ongoing.
The Daily star has contacted Chessington World of Adventures for comment.
This is not the first time this year the theme park was forced to close their doors due to issues. This summer the theme park and resort had to shut its doors because of a water outage in the area.
The development comes after numerous European flights have been hit with bomb threats over the last several days. The dramatic wave of security scares comes amid soaring international tensions, with Western intelligence bosses on high alert over suspected foreign “hybrid warfare” campaigns and coordinated sabotage. Both Moscow and Tehran have strongly denied orchestrating the disruption.
In one heart-stopping incident, Aer Lingus flight EI420, which took off from Dublin at 6.20am en route to Rome, triggered universal distress alert code 7700 about 90 minutes into the journey.
A French fighter jet scrambled to intercept the passenger plane, forcing it to touch down at the Evreux airbase in Normandy.
The office of French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu confirmed authorities are closely tracking the unfolding situation.
Flights coming in from Copenhagen and Madrid made unscheduled landings in Sofia, while a third jet flying out of London was directed into Plovdiv.
Airports across the rest of the continent were plunged into similar chaos as the alerts rolled in. In the Czech Republic, police mobilised for four incoming passenger jets bound for Prague, enforcing emergency measures on the tarmac despite rating the danger as low.
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