Jet ski legislation is welcome but overdue ...and there are still questions to answer

MANY readers will know that I have been campaigning for years for the control of the use of jet skis. The government has at last given in, to an extent, and has decided to make it a crime to misuse them. This will carry a penalty of up to two years in gaol and / or a fine.

It will come into effect on the 31st of March this year, in time for the summer season. There will also be a ‘Highway Code’ type publication.

This is without doubt a step in the right direction. But it also raises many questions.

Firstly though, I should be clear. I campaigned for something else – a training and licensing system which would tackle misuse before it happened – as well as providing the courts with an appropriate punishment – losing the jet ski licence.

Nearly every country in Europe has a control system, such as training and then a test leading to a licence.

Officially the UK has none of this.

There is excellent voluntary training available, often provided locally.

And to be clear again, the voluntary bodies who provide the voluntary training are against a licensing system.

But the provision now is just that – voluntary.

I suspect that the people who misuse these machines are the least likely to take training, or even perhaps to concede that they might just need it.

Jet skis are also used by industry – most notably commercial fish farms, almost exclusively in Scotland.

But I think that this professional use would scarcely be affected by licensing system and would perhaps be welcomed by some as a way of ensuring that staff are properly trained.

I have asked questions, held a debate on the matter, worked with other MPs from across the UK, investigated systems in other countries and have met both the voluntary sailing bodies and government officials. (This is not a bid for an overnight headline!) But the government has refused to agree with me and have bought in a more limited measure.

Many Herald readers will have seen – and heard – these powerful and very noisy machines on the water.

They are very fast and manoeuvrable. From what I’ve seen they are used to travel at high speed in open water and to perform hard turns and figures of 8 etc.

Fair enough if that is your delight, though for me this would have limited appeal.

But a small minority also drive them in a dangerous way, amongst swimmers, sailing craft and paddleboarders, sometimes within the exclusion zone of 50 metres from the shore. In some places they are a nuisance element – continual noise and large 4x4 vehicles driving up and down beaches to launch craft.

There have been accidents and even some fatalities.

There is also a good deal of evidence of jet skis being driven fast into nature reserves and estuaries and at wildlife in open water.

So that is where it stands at present. But as I said there are questions to be answered.

For example, who is to police this new measure and how will the enforcement be funded and carried out?

I should say that Gwynedd and Ynys Môn have a good record of leading the way in doing what they can along with the harbour authorities, to regulate jet ski use.

But their powers and their resources are limited.

And will the new offence be extended to children?

You might think that this last one is a peculiar angle.

But just the other day my attention was drawn to the fact that children’s versions of jet skis are now for sale – inflatable and with an engine.

The safety implications of this hardly bear thinking about – both for children and for the rescue services that might be called out.

So, as they say, the campaign goes on.