[rushie]

From the BBC -

A port authority has banned children from its harbour after CCTV captured images of children jumping from a ship's mast into shallow water below.
Milford Haven Port Authority is not allowing children to play or swim in the area following the incident.

Two youngsters were seen to jump from the ship, but got away before the authorities arrived.

The ban follows a spate of incidents recently involving children which has concerned the port's authorities.

In one case, children narrowly escaped being hit after jumping into a lock into the path of a boat.

Myra Shacklady, commercial director at the port authority said one of the reasons children were now banned from the harbour was for their own health and safety.

"They were jumping from a greased pole into less than six feet of water.

"It's been after a long period of consultation with the local community police and in actually monitoring the situation and warning [the youngsters] and trying to educate them into being more responsible."

Ms Shacklady said there was one particular area near Hakin Point in the harbour where children could go to swim, but the authority had now stopped access from their land.

Rushie

 

[wigger]

Its nothing new really. Kids used to do similar things in Weymouth Harbour about 20 years ago. Climbing up cranes or on to laid up ferries and then jumping into the harbour. Even now in Poole teenagers swim over the harbour to ships and swing from ropes etc until they get moved on. When we lived in Weymouth, a young lad ( from Australia I think) jumped off one of the piers at low tide and was seriously injured. The local rag wanted to raise money to send him home which was nice, but a lot of locals just thought "serves him right", harsh but thats life. Even recently there were two such incidents over one weekend, one involving a teenager and the other a man in his 50's, sorry but at that age there is no excuse and if people can't see the dangers then thats there problem, no great loss to the world. I just feel sorry for the poor people who have to rescue and treat these idiots.

 

[Tony Breach]

Hi there Wigger,

Agree it's nothing new but Milford Haven is one of very few ports where the public have access to the piers that form the lock entrance. This means that we are free to go & look at ships very closely as they lock in & out & we are aslo allowed to take photographs. It is certainly not a big or busy harbour but plenty of people like to visit the locks & an accident or fatality to the kids concerned would no doubt have their parents suing the port for negligence (rather than the parents lack of supervision of their children) & we would lose access.

In our wonderful nanny state there apparently is an excuse for people not seeing dangers, even if it's their own stupidity, as any lawyer will prove in court. We are now allowed to trepass, do damage, cause annoyance & get a settlement for thousands, if not millions, when we twist our ankle in a rabbit hole that the tresspasee (is that a word?) didn't fill, put a barrier around & illuminate at night!

I also concur about the feelings of the rescuers but it's the danger that makes these kids tick.

Cheers mate, Tony

 

[Mad Landsman]

KIds will apparently go to any lengths to jump into water, other than from where they are allowed or supposed to jump.

Whilst working on the Railway network a common Summer time problem I had to deal with was 'Bridge jumpers'. Now the great thing about the Railways in Britain is that it is illegal to trespass in any way, but that doesn't stop them, nor does 2 metre pallisade fencing, nor does the prospect of being fried on an electric rail, nor does the chance of being drowned in a tidal scour, to say nothing of being hit by a train or hitting the breastwork on the way down.

So I will say to the Milford Haven Port Authority: I wish you the best of luck in your endeavour, you have my profound sympathy. But one thing is for sure you will never stop them or the offspring of the survivors.

(Night)

 

[billyboy]

re-childhood dangers.
I watched as a ship docked in Zamboanga.Young childre in the harbour riding astride pieces of styrafoam packing. they paddle with their hands around the approaching ship and beg for coins. diving quite deep to retrieve some. the ones between the quay and docking ship had me very woried. but, the worst was a little girl paddling around the stern very close to the ship. I have never prayed so hard that the captain/pilot would not ring down full astern on his port engine. fortunatly he did'nt. else this little girl aged around 6 years would have been through that prop pronto.
Then when up in Nasipit waitin for the ferry for Cebu to leave, i was leaning on the boat deck rail watching the local kids jumping from the rubbing strake into the harbour. Imagine my surprise when one of them apeared beside me and jumped down from the very rail i was leaning on. this he did for a reward of 5 pesos which some irresponsible pinoy gave him before he jumped. At the end of the day as someone quite rightly pointed out "children dont recognise danger, they thrive on it."

 

[Pompeyfan]

Kids were jumping in the sea at Southsea last week despite one sign warning them with a fine if caught. I think the fine was as much as £1,000. A policeman was walking around warning verbally, but when he had gone, they started again. But they were not observant enough to spot the police launch patrolling who must have radioed the policeman who was soon back on the scene taking their names. Then when he had gone, they were doing it again. Typical kids not seeing the danger, and defying authorities and no doubt their parents who may have told them not to dive in the sea. Tell them not to do something, and it is the first thing they do?!.

I mentioned in posts earlier in the year that people will be injured or killed on our coasts this summer in the UK. It has already happened. And I heard a couple of days ago that a 41 year man died on a Jet Ski. I don't know what happened and didn't catch where it was. It could have been Poole, but it was certainly in the Radio Solent broadcasting area. They said nobody else was involved so I assume it was either an accident, or he died of natural causes. He was certainly the age for heart trouble, a common cause when doing things on holiday they do not do at home, even at that age.

I dislike rules and regulations the same as the next person, but if it save lives preventing the horrific things I had to deal with, I am all for it. There will be plenty more seaside accidents and deaths this summer, a child not going back to school and another families life shattered forever. Every summer is the same. Bad enough for emergency services, but they all agreed that my job was even worse having to perform the autopsy, then having to reconstruct the body to make it presentable for grieving relatives to visit. I then had to watch them break down often spending hours with them when time allowed trying to console them knowing it was a hopeless task. But what can you do when their 7 year old son for example has been killed in an accident so easily avoided. How can you tell them that if he had done this or that, he would still be alive. All you can do is try to assure them that he felt no pain. Quite often, facial damage was so bad that despite hours of fine stitching on my part, I advised relatives not to see them after the autopsy, remembering them as they were, not as they looked after the accident because that final viewing stays with people for life. Funeral Directors apply cosmetics when we had finished, but often looked unnatural, and even worse. But people don't listen, often too grief stricken, and then wishing afterwards they had. It is a funny old life?!.

Like I said above, I don't like rules and regulations. Kids are kids and should not wrapped up in cotton wool. But if I could prevent what I have seen, and things I have had to do which is too horrific to write anywhere in the public domain, then I would certainly be in favour of it. Life is so precious, but it is amazing how so many people take it for granted thinking nothing will happen to them or living life to the full as some boast. Try telling that to grieving relatives. So if you see kids doing dangerous things on the seaside or anywhere, tell them off or ring the police. Far better to be seen as a meddling spoil sport than giving people like me another soul destroying job, and relatives scarred emotionally for life.

Last week in Felixstowe I watched a young lad drifting out on a very strong tide in a small inflatable. I did not know the area, but it was easy to see how strong the tide was. His parents were sitting on the beach totally unaware of the danger. I spoke to the father who told me to mind my own business. Five minute later he was in a panic seeing how far the boy had drifted, diving in swimming out to his son and pulling him in. He was lucky, and came over to me afterwards to apologise saying he did not realise how strong the tide was. The same old story. David

 

[wigger]

I think the jetski incident may have been off Weymouth. A holiday maker got into trouble in Bowleze Cove over the weekend.

 

[Pompeyfan]

Thanks Wigger, that sounds about right. David

 

[John Tremelling]

Whilst I fully agree with all written here, I have to agree also with the comment made by Pompey fan that "Kids are kids and should not wrapped up in cotton wool."

Which of us has not done something stupid in our youth, luckily got away with it, perhaps hurt, or severly abmonished by our elders, but certainly learnt from it. When I first retired from my full time career, I worked part time with younsters in various fields of adventure training. Subsequently, legislation and our litigious culture forced companies which employed people like me, with few formal qualifications but a lifetimes experience, out. Legislation favoured companies which employed pimply faced youngsters, (OK, I'm an old fart) with loads of bits of paper, bit little common sense. The result is that adventure training has been priced beyond the budget of many, especially families in inner city areas whos kids would probably most benifit from it. Whilst adventurous training should be monitored, and made as safe as possible, take away the danger and will will become simply 'training', or the sort of unreal 'virtual' world which many younsters live on in their computers.

The kids who perform such stunts are, if they survive the 'growing up process', the sort of kids who sail single handed around the world, (look at it logically, such stunts are uneccesarily dangerous and serve no useful purpose) or fly to the moon (of doubtful value) Those kids which do not have such a lust for 'adventure' (or 'danger' or even call it 'life'), are the sort of people who become obese and watch others doing things on the telly.

Yes, (before readers jump dowm my throat) I repeat, we should protect people, especially children, from their own stupidity, but perhaps more emphasis on eductaion and adventurous training rather than Nanny State legislation.

John Trem

 

[wigger]

A lot of children who do dangerous things do indeed go on to do great things in life. I do believe though that those children are probably good kids anyway, and sadly that is not always the case. I am still young enough (just) to have a healthy interest in what I suppose is "extreme sports/stunts" and I cannot get through 5 minutes of Jackass without laughing like a idiot at some completely pointless stunts and pranks aimed at other people. Some of my friends at work are that bit younger and take part in what could be classed as stupid stunts (kite powered rollerblading etc). These guys are the first to admit that what they do is dangerous and completely pointless, but they get a buzz and at 18-19 good luck to them. The only people they are going to hurt is probably themselves, and even then its a good story for the mates - I crashed and burned etc! The point is even these guys know when enough is enough, they do not trespass, respect the law (most laws anyway) and respect other people and other people's property. They look with disdain at the the kids trespassing and generally making a nuisance of themselves with no real purpose in life. So I do agree that kids with a sense of adventure who push there limits can go on and achieve fantastic things in life. But sadly there are plenty more with the sense of adventure but sadly not the common sense or the discipline or respect. It all depends on the individual.

 

[Ron Stringer]

Risky Behaviour

Who are we to criticise? Just look at some of the posts on SN to see lots of what would now be described as "dangerous", "risky", "irresponsible" or "foolish" behaviour. How many of us went ashore in countries where we couldn't speak the language, got absolutely legless and made it back to the ship through what were usually the least salubrious parts of the town? Would that be classed today as normal, acceptable behaviour? I think not, but we did it, we enjoyed it (and did it many, many times) and, thankfully, most of us got away with it unscathed.

Ron

 

[Tony Breach]

Ron, Wigger,

I fully understand your points but how many SN members jumped off the mast into the sea? Legless in a foriegn port goes with the territory, maybe it's what we do best.

Fully expecting flack,
Tony

 

[John Tremelling]

I have.

Anon

 

[terence]

well said tony kids will b kids

 

[wigger]

I don't disagree with anybody's comments, but it still remains that some kids are cool, probably like most people on this site are/were, having a bit of fun and ignoring the risk. Whilst there are also little ****'s who actually enjoy putting others in danger. Who else would place objects on a railway line to purposely derail a train or throw concrete off a motorway flyover? There is a whole heap of difference and like I said before, it depends on the individual. Kids are indeed kids like everybody says, but you can't put all of them in the same group.

 

[John Tremelling]

Well put Wigger

John Trem