The mother of a teenager who was almost killed when he was thrown from a fairground ride has spoken of her relief that the manufacturers have finally been brought to justice. Kizzy Nee, from Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, said she thought Reece, 14, was dead when he was flung from the Orbitor Extreme at Stevenage's Sonisphere Knebworth music festival. The ride was only on its third outing when Reece was injured, after being thrown through a steel fence panel, suffering internal bleeding and having to be taken into intensive care. Reece, left, pictured with his mum Kizzy, right, is lucky to be alive after suffering horrendous injuries . He suffered severe life-threatening injuries after the incident in 2009, and still struggles from the effects to this day. Mother-of-three Kizzy, who is now launching a civil case against the ride manufacturers who were fined after pleading guilty to safety breaches in 2014, said her son doesn’t leave the house, and won’t travel in a car without her. She said: ‘It should have been a lovely family day. It was the first festival we had been to and we were both excited. ‘But what happened has changed our family forever. Reece is not the same boy he once was. I went through horrendous trauma, watching him in intensive care, not knowing if he would live or die.’ Kizzy had been saving for months for her and her partner, John, to visit the Knebworth festival in August 2009. Reece, pictured in hospital, suffered internal bleeding after his fall from a fairground ride at Sonisphere festival . Reece fell off the ride pictured above during a family day out in 2009 . Then just a week before, she discovered she had won two festival tickets in a competition - and decided to take her eldest son, Reece, and his girlfriend along too. Kizzy said: ‘It was a real treat. It was my first festival - and Reece's too - so we were both excited. ‘We pitched our tent on the Friday night and the following day, we went off to watch the bands. ‘Reece asked me for some money to go on a fairground ride. He met up with a couple of school friends too. He loved rides, so I knew he would be having fun.’ But a short time later, one of Reece's friends raced back to say he had fallen from a ride. Kizzy said: ‘My first thought was that he was dead. I was hysterical. But, when I reached him, he was awake and talking, though his ankle was badly smashed. ‘I really thought it was just a case of a broken ankle. Though I was worried, I was glad that at least it wasn't as serious as I'd feared. ‘Reece lay on the ground, as we waited for an ambulance and I saw the fairground workers, picking up broken parts from the ride.’ Reece spent five days in a coma and a further ten days in hospital and missed his 15th birthday . In hospital, doctors found Reece was bleeding internally from his main artery. They warned Kizzy his life was in danger. She said: ‘They took me in a little room like a scene from Holby City, and I felt as though it was happening to someone else. ‘They explained if they didn't operate he would bleed to death. ‘I was hysterical, pacing the hospital corridors for hours waiting for news.’ Reece finally came out of surgery in the early hours of the morning. Doctors confirmed they had managed to repair a ripped aorta. His condition was still critical and he was taken into intensive care. Reece was rushed back into surgery following complications and then taken to a specialist children's hospital, where he was placed in an induced coma. Again, Kizzy was warned he faced a fight for life. She said: ‘I didn't leave the hospital for a week. I was a mess. I thought I was going to lose him and it was horrific.’ Reece spent five days in a coma and a further ten days in hospital. His 15th birthday passed him by. Even at home, he needed a wheelchair and was unable to look after himself. Kizzy said: ‘We had to bring his bed downstairs. He was like an old man. He had major surgery on his upper body and his ankle was in pieces too, so he just couldn't move.’ Reece was in a wheelchair and it was five months before he returned to school. Kizzy said: ‘Physically, he healed well, but he was never the same child again. Reece had always been a typical boy; blind to danger, a real fun lover and thrill seeker. ‘But he became too scared to even go in a car. ‘To this day, he rarely goes out alone and won't go in a car without me. He has pain in his ankle and his ribs, but the main after effects of the accident are psychological. After his accident Reece was in a wheelchair and it was five months before he returned to school . ‘He has become anxious and old before his time. He can't walk past a fairground, let alone go on a ride again.’ In July 2014, those responsible for Reece's accident were finally brought to justice. The Health and Safety Executive investigated the incident and found a number of serious defects which had not been picked up at either the design, testing or sign-off stages. The HSE confirmed that the accident had been preventable if the guilty parties had followed the proper procedures. The ride manufacturer Perrin Stevens and examiners Dr Martyn Lacey and Frederick Meakin were all prosecuted after pleading guilty to the safety breaches at Cambridge Crown Court. Stevens was fined £3,000 and the same amount in costs after pleading guilty to breaching Section 6 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, while his company Perrin Stevens Ltd was fined a further £2,000 and £3,000 costs. Lacey and Meakin were each fined £8,000 and both ordered to pay costs of £10,000 after pleading guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. Kizzy said:’ I am still very bitter and angry that due to their negligence I nearly lost my son. ‘I understand that the judge can only fine the guilty party based on their means but I am shocked that they can carry on trading in the business after showing such incompetence, especially when a safety inspector’s job is so important to the safety of the public. Reece, pictured above with a friend, 'can't walk past a fairground, let alone go on a ride again.' ‘I am actually disgusted that they can carry on in the same line of work and can only hope that they realise that they cannot play with people's lives. ‘I had to go through two weeks of hell not knowing if my son was going to come out of the operating room alive and then watching him as he lay in a coma. ‘After all this not a single apology has been offered our way. ‘I would like the public to know the dangers of travelling fairgrounds, and that despite having safety checks carried out rogue inspectors do exist. The could and should have been prevented.’ Kizzy is now pursuing a civil case against those responsible. Her solicitor, Melanie Neale, of Pictons Law Firm, said: ‘Although the HSE secured these convictions it does not provide any justice for Reece so we have launched a civil claim on his behalf. ‘We have a very strong case, especially as all three defendants pleaded guilty as charged. ‘Had the guilty parties been responsible and had done what they are supposed to do the accident would never have happened. ‘It’s too easy for fairground owners and designers of rides to cut corners and this presents a terrible danger to the public. ‘Reece was lucky not to have been killed, but he and his mother are still suffering from the effects of this terrible accident and I am determined, along with his mother, to get him the justice her deserves while warning other fairground operators – and the general public who find these rides so popular – that they can’t take risks with people's lives in order to make more money.’
Reece Nee, 14, was thrown off ride at Sonisphere festival near Stevenage . Suffered internal bleeding and was in intensive care after incident . Teen was in a wheelchair and couldn't attend school for five months . Ride manufacturers pleaded guilty, were fined at Cambridge Crown Court .