Alton Towers is to cut around ten per cent of its work force following a drop in revenue in the wake of its serious Smiler rollercoaster crash earlier this year.

The Merlin Entertainments theme park, which employs 2,000 people, has said it will cut up to 190 jobs following the drop in attendance during the summer months of 2015.

The attraction took a serious hit financially following the accident in which five people were badly injured – two later lost limbs.

The park was closed for five days following the accident.

In a statement, Merlin said: "At the end of a very difficult year, Alton Towers Resort has confirmed a proposed restructure of the business to be completed in time for the opening of the new season in March 2016. Regretfully it may result in the loss of up to 190 salaried jobs across the resort.

"We anticipate some of these will be accounted for by a programme of non-replacement of existing vacancies, early retirement, redeployment elsewhere in the group, and voluntary redundancy.

"As soon as employee representatives have been appointed, a consultation period will begin."

In September, Merlin revealed a drop in visitors and profits, with like-for-like revenues declining by 11.4 per cent. The accident also hit trading at Merlin’s other UK theme parks, Thorpe Park and Chessington World of Adventures.

Speaking in September, Merlin CEO Nick Varney said he did not expect visitor numbers to recover until 2017 at the earliest.