Unflappable Rhys takes on Surrey's worst job

Apr 15 2009 By Russell Butt

Rhys Owens

A newly introduced job at Thorpe Park is unlikely to have many jobseekers green with envy.

The combination of a stomach full of Easter eggs and a death-defying rollercoaster has prompted the prominent leisure park to hire 22-year-old Rhys Owen, from Frimley, Surrey as a 'vomit collector' to cope with increased levels of sick.

Mr Owen joins the park's Environmental Services team who look after park presentation and over the Easter period his role entailed making sure new, terrifying rollercoaster, SAW - The Ride, remains vomit free.

Despite the job description, Mr Owen remained surprising optimistic about his new role and it's perks but had hoped visitors to the park wouldn't consume too much chocolate before visiting.

He said: "Although being responsible for cleaning up peoples’ vomit is a bit gross I am up for taking on the challenge.

"I absolutely love rollercoasters and the perk of being able to ride them for free makes the sick collection worth it - I may have to invest in a nose peg though."

In 2008 the theme park had a total number of 619 ‘sick shutdowns’, where rides were closed due to a visitor vomiting. This totalled approximately 150 litres of vomit to be disposed of. Of those incidents, just over 40 took place during the two-week Easter Holiday period.

Divisional director at Thorpe Park, Mike Vallis, said the new rollercoaster was the catalyst in getting the vomit collector role introduced.

He said: "There’s been a real demand for a vomit collector for quite some time now and the introduction of SAW – The Ride has only increased this demand as it’s such an extreme experience. "We do strongly recommend that anyone planning on visiting the park thinks carefully about what they eat beforehand."