PROTESTORS scaled Blackpool's famous Big One on Saturday, costing Blackpool Pleasure Beach thousands of pounds and drawing a large crowd to South Promenade.

Fathers 4 Justice campaigners Colin Vallis, 34, and Rory Wilmer, 25, closed the popular 235ft rollercoaster when they clambered over a security fence and up a staircase to the top and unveiled a Fathers 4 Justice (F4J) 'Kapow!' banner.

Passers-by joined a 17-strong F4J support group on the prom, as unemployed builder Mr Vallis, and full-time graphic design student Mr Wilmer, dressed as Batman and The Incredible Hulk, protested from 11.30am until 2.15pm.

The pair were then arrested for public nuisance offences, and later released on police bail until November 12.

Mr Wilmer, though, returned the next day and paid to go on the very ride he'd brought to a halt. He wasn't recognised until he got off, he said.

Blackpool's Big One was the latest F4J target; the group recently caused a storm when member Jason Hatch scaled Buckingham Palace dressed as Batman. The group is fighting for 'equality in family law', including shared parenting time being the presumed legal arrangement when parents separate or divorce.

Mr Wilmer - aka The Hulk - said he would not be allowed to see his son on his fifth birthday, inspiring him to make his Big One protest.

"Many times I have asked to take my son to the funfair or the seaside and I have never been allowed to. We didn't want to stop the ride. We made it clear that we weren't going to stay for very long, we just wanted to make our protests. If I can't see my son then I have lost everything - I have nothing else to lose. We are prepared to do whatever it takes, even if we have to break the law in order to change the law."

It's believed the protest could have cost Blackpool Pleasure Beach up to £25,000 in lost ticket sales - the ride was closed as soon as the protestors were spotted. But it was visiting children who had really lost out, said Gill Mathison, the park's head of public relations.

"There were a lot of families that were disappointed because they wanted to go on that ride. Obviously we would have preferred for it not to have happened," she said.

The protestors had scaled a locked gate and security fence before climbing the ride's inspection staircase, normally used by engineers, she said.

"Obviously if they had the intention that they wanted to go up there, there was not an awful lot that would could have done," she added. And she insisted the ride 'is secure in every way, shape and form'.

She said the Pleasure Beach would wait until a police investigation into the incident was concluded before deciding whether or not to pursue F4J over any financial loss.

F4J has confirmed it is setting up a Blackpool branch and four candidates have been short-listed for the co-ordinator's role, the organisation said.