Colin Salt
Mechanical Engineer
Technical Services
“I joined Alton Towers Resort as a Ride Operator in 1984 - so I’ve seen a lot of changes! I was made redundant from a local garage as a car mechanic and fancied doing something different. I worked on the 4-Man Bobsleigh ride and the Black Hole initially before transferring to the Maintenance team in 1988.
The thrill of the job
“Over the years I have worked on some iconic rides – the Thunderlooper, the Black Hole and the Corkscrew – but now I work mainly on Rita – our biggest and fastest ride. I get an amazing buzz when I can fix a problem on the ride – and usually get a fantastic cheer from guests who are eager to get on when it’s back up and running. You don’t get that in a garage!
Pride and recognition
“The large part of my role though is actually maintaining the rides rather than fixing them, as prevention is better than a cure. Our team works very hard to maximise ride availability for our guests during the season, but also in the winter when we strip all the rides down to give all the components a thorough service and clean. It makes me very proud to know that I am part of something as special as the Alton Towers Resort Maintenance team – we won Team of the Year in 2007. And two years ago I was nominated as an ambassador for my commitment to great customer service, which also led to me winning ‘Employee of the Year’ – out of over a thousand employees!
Development and variety
"The Resort has sent me on all sorts of courses over the years including pneumatics and hydraulics, working at heights (I’m now a trainer myself) and I am also responsible for all the lifting equipment on the site.
"I love working here because of the breadth of work and the variety of kit. I get to directly see the value of my work and have been to THORPE PARK to work on Stealth too. If I was still working in the garage I would still be working on the same things day in day out, not multi-million pound roller coasters!"
