Nottingham fair firm faces Saudi human rights questions

Some rides have already shipped to Saudi Arabia with hundreds going in the coming weeks

A UK company setting up a giant funfair in Saudi Arabia has been reminded of its human rights "obligations".

Nottingham-based Mellors Group will make a touring attraction "four times" bigger than the city's Goose Fair.

The lifting of bans on such rides has been taken as a sign of reform but the Saudi regime has been criticised over the Yemen war and workers' rights.

Experts said firms must consider their impact but Mellors said its dealings so far had been "positive".

Huge crowds turned out for a rare concert in Saudi Arabia in 2017

Mellors Group won a five-year contract to create the travelling fair as part of Prince Mohammed bin Salman's £46bn investment in the country's entertainment industry.

While he has been applauded for his new reforms such as lifting a driving ban for women, the prince has also been heavily criticised for pursuing the war in Yemen and the death of a journalist last year.

Robert McCorquodale, professor of International Law and Human Rights at the University of Nottingham, said: "There is now an obligation for businesses to conduct due diligence into what their impact is on workers, communities and the country.

"They can no longer close their eyes to the situation in a country and must assess - as they do with financial and reputational risks - the risks to human rights."

The Runaway Train is one of the rides that will be on the touring funfair

Responding to concerns about working in the country, including Richard Branson's decision to suspend investment, company director James Mellors was optimistic.

"We have worked in Dubai and that was a great experience and we expect [Saudi Arabia] to be great too," he said.

"Everything that we are hearing from the people we are dealing with there is positive.

"We are bringing something to the people there that they have never experienced and I think what we can give to that country is a positive."

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Mellors Group manages theme parks and fairs in the UK and abroad, including Fantasy Island parks in Dubai and Skegness.

Saudi Arabia had for many years banned entertainment, or often those that existed were for men only.

Mr Mellors said the contract would create the "biggest touring event in the world", taking on 80 more staff, both in Nottingham and Saudi Arabia.

They will be responsible for getting rides on to 700 trailers and moving them up to 900 miles from city to city.

Mr Mellors said the scale of the operation was reflected in a log flume ride which needs 50 trailers to move it - the largest in the UK requires five.

Some rides have already been shipped with the first fair to open in the capital Riyadh in October.