A FAIRGROUND operator whose bungee rocket ride snapped injuring two people was fined £12,000 by magistrates yesterday.

Matthew Taylor, 51, director of Glasgow-based Kifdo Ltd, who pleaded guilty before Newcastle magistrates to endangering the safety of the public by failing to properly maintain the Awesome Ride, was also ordered to pay more than £3,500 in costs.

Martin Smith, prosecuting for the Health and Safety Executive, said that moments before the accident at the Hoppings Fair, in Newcastle, in June 1999, members of the public had shouted to the owners that one of the cords was fraying. But their pleas were ignored and two people suffered bruising after the bungee cord snapped midway through the ride.

The ride catapults two people 170ft into the air in a cage attached to two bungee cords tied to 150ft posts.

When one of the cords snapped, the safety rope did not break, but allowed the cage to bounce back into a post a few times before it came to a stop, the court was told.

Mr Smith said the Swiss manufacturers of the bungee ropes had recommended they be changed after 300 rides.

According to the guidelines, the ropes also had to be inspected daily and changed if more than five per cent of the elastic strands were snapped.

Mr Smith said the person charged by the company to take responsibility for checking the bungee ropes was not aware of the manufacturers' guidelines and had made up his own rules.

An HSE expert discovered that the ropes had been used more than the guidelines allowed and had become unsafe.

Mr Smith said: "No responsible person would run a ride with the ropes in this state."

Rod Searl, mitigating, said Mr Taylor and the company had since put the Italian-designed ride up for sale.

He said the company - the country's largest showman's firm, which trades under the name of Matthew Taylor and Sons - had felt it was too difficult to judge by the naked eye from 150ft, whether five per cent of the cords were damaged.

He said that the firm, which sold two million rides a year and had an "extremely good" record, took safety seriously.