Up to a dozen revellers had to be rescued by stepladder from one of the fairground rides at the Mop Fair in Marlborough on Saturday night.

The Music Trip ride ground to a halt at around 9pm, stranding those aboard 12ft above the ground.

Some were in tears and others calling out to friends and family on the ground. It took some 20 minutes for fairground operators to fetch stepladders and take each passenger down.

Eleven-year-old Jessica Loney and her 14-year-old sister Natalie, both pupils at St John's School, were among those stuck on the ride.

Natalie said: "It was a bit scary and some people were crying. When they tried to make the ride move again it dropped a bit and everyone screamed.

"The worst part was when they lifted up the arm to let people get out. You were all that way above the ground with nothing to hold on to."

Jessica added: "We had to step down on to the ladder and that was a bit frightening as well."

The girls' mother, Emma Loney, deputy manager at the One Stop Shop in High Street, said: "They were a bit scared, but they went on other rides later on that evening. But my boss, Sue Foot, took them on the ride and she was really shaken up. She has sworn never to go on a ride again."

Heather Clay, secretary of the western division of the Showmen's Guild of Great Britain, which organises the Mop Fairs, said it was rare for rides to break down with people on them.

She said: "Each operator carries out a risk assessment and in this they work out when they will call the emergency services and when they will deal with it themselves. In this case, it was thought correct not to call the emergency services."