Organisers of a Brisbane monster truck show where a girl was injured have been slammed as paramedics reveal there were no first-aid officers on hand when they arrived.
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Audience members sprang into action to lift a rally car off a mother and two kids after a failed car stunt left children traumatised in Brisbane’s south on Saturday night.
The woman and two children were injured, including the woman's daughter who was taken to the Queensland Children's Hospital with a suspected broken ankle, after reports they were struck by the car.
According to police, a car lost its steering after going over a jump, before crashing through a fence and into the crowd at the Mount Gravatt Showgrounds about 6.30pm on Saturday.
A Queensland Ambulance Service spokesman said paramedics responded to initial reports of seven patients who were injured at the event, by sending multiple units.
He said the outcome could have been worse given the size of the trucks involved in the show.
"The potential is quite large for these trucks to go right into the crowd if they continue forward so from our point of view, it was a very fortunate incident," he said.
The spokesman said QAS paramedics did not believe there were any first aid officials at the event.
"Generally events that include large crowds and high-risk events, we would always recommend some form of first aid be on scene to initially assess and treat these patients prior to the Queensland Ambulance's arriving on scene," he said.
"As far as we’re aware, when we arrived we weren’t met by any first aiders or any official first aiders on scene."
Spectators were shocked by the lack of response from organisers and questioned safety provisions.
Beck Buckman said showgoers had to rely on police for updates as organisers failed to keep the crowd informed.
"We spoke to the police because there was no information from organisers," she said.
"They said the barriers were a safety issue but were also waiting to find out who was driving.
"At the time when it was first happened, he ran off."
"It was terrible to witness and the whole thing was a joke ... the organisers weren’t doing anything."
Ms Buckman said she had taken her 11-year-old daughter with her friend to the event, which was advertised as a "fun, family night out".
"We paid a $100 a ticket and it left our kids traumatised, they felt physically sick watching it," she said.
Ms Buckman said she was mortified when she saw the car heading towards the crowd before crashing 20 metres from them.
"It was going so fast and before you knew it, it happened and everyone was screaming," she said.
"Luckily the crowd sprung into action and lifted the car off the mother and kids because the organiser certainly weren’t there.
"The car went straight over the top of them."
The Ultimate Monster Family Show was scheduled to take place at the showgrounds on Saturday night, starting just half an hour before the incident.
The organisers did not respond to calls on Saturday and Sunday.
Ms Buckman said she was horrified the organisers had tried to erase last night's events.
"Everyone is out of pocket now and the organisers have deleted their Facebook (event) and aren't answering their phones.
"It's unbelievable to see that this has happened and people were rushing down and nobody stopping it.
"Organisers decided to bring out performance cars to drive them while this is happening ... that was not OK.
"The fact that we can’t get out money back, that makes it so much worse."
Spectator Kacey Huybens said the incident was very poorly handled by organisers who needed to be held accountable.
"We sat for close to an hour not knowing if people were seriously injured," she said.
"A couple of people managed to get refunds but for the rest of us it was refused, despite the lack of safety and entertainment."
Ms Huybens said she was surprised when the show continued despite police and ambulance cars being stationed on the grounds.
"It wasn’t until after 8pm that the show properly started again and 10 minutes after this that they decided people should move 20 metres back from the fence," she said.
"You would expect a company to have a contingency plan in place and they didn’t.
"These organisers were safer in their cars than spectators were sitting in the crowd."
Monster Truck Promotions Australia posted on Facebook to say they were not involved with the event at Mount Gravatt Showgrounds and redirected show-goers to Ultimate Monster Action.
"Monster Truck Promotions Australia wish the mother and her two children injured a speedy recovery," they wrote.
A Workplace Health and Safety spokesman said they were making inquiries at this stage and were investigating further.
Public Works Minister Mick de Brenni said he had asked the chair of the Mount Gravatt Showgrounds Trust to fully co-operate with any investigation, including providing documents to Workplace Health and Safety.
"I can't imagine what it would have been like to have been there on the day and been a part of what could have been a terribly tragic incident," he said.
"I think it's very fortunate that nobody was seriously injured or hurt, or killed in this accident."
- with Felicity Caldwell
