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Visitors to Chessington World of Adventures were told to delete mobile phone photos of passengers stuck on a broken-down rollercoaster.

People were left stranded on the 48mph Dragon’s Fury ride for up to an hour after a mechanical failure caused the carts to stop mid-journey.

Witnesses said they were hauled from the ten-year-old ride, which reaches a peak of 59ft,in safety harnesses.

But one visitor claimed he was “chased down” by security staff and threatened with being removed from the park after taking photographs of the rescue on Sunday.

He said: “There was still people stuck on the ride having staff get them out onto platforms with safety harnesses.

“We were chased down by security and forced to delete the photos otherwise we would have been removed from the park.”

The amusement park said it was following a policy of protecting the privacy of its guests.

A spokeswoman said: “Two members of our security team approached a small party of guests who were taking photos of our ride staff and guests during the evacuation.

“They were politely asked to delete these images as neither our staff nor the guests in question had given permission for their photos to be taken.”

She said the policy helped the safe evacuation of the ride but insisted that anyone resisting would not have been threatened with removal from the park.

She said: “Its for safety. Its not a cover-up.”

News of the move sparked an online backlash against the theme park, which has suffered a number of mechanical breakdowns in recent years.

Mike Burkitt wrote on Facebook: ”Nothing to do with protecting anyone’s privacy and everything to do with protecting the reputation of the business.”

The Dragon’s Fury ride, which opened in 2004, sees four person spinning cars speed round the twists and turns of a 1,771ft track.