The Palace Pier in Brighton is lucky not to be facing headlines about death and disaster on one of its rides.

As The Argus reveals today, eight employees of a design firm travelled to Brighton for a Christmas seaside outing.

They went on the Turbo roller coaster and were almost killed because part of the rail had been removed for repair.

The leading car in the ride came to a halt with its front wheels dangling over the point where the rail had been removed.

It seems amazing such a blunder could occur on a busy pier which operates funfair rides all the year round.

The Palace Pier receives more than four million visitors a year and safety must be its top priority.

When rides are being repaired, they need to be roped off and taken right out of service. That obviously did not happen in this case. The attendant who let people on to the ride did not realise there was a part of the track missing.

There will have to be an inquiry into this near-miss, which could well result in legal action against those responsible.

The investigation should concentrate on whether the people operating potentially dangerous rides on the pier are properly qualified to do so.

Everything possible must be done to ensure nothing like this ever happens again.