Powerboat passenger blinded in head-on horror crash
A PASSENGER on a bird watching boat trip was left virtually blind in one eye after the vessel collided with another while performing a surprise ‘power turn’ stunt.
Jane Francis, 45, had been on a trip visiting the Isle of May, off the Fife coast, when the rigid inflatable boat she was on collided head-on with its sister vessel.
Dundee Sheriff Court heard that Mrs Francis, an artist who was on the trip with her husband and half a dozen others, was left with broken bones and virtually blinded in one eye.
The crash happened during a s ynchronised power t urn between the two boats, which both belonged to Isle of May Boat Trips.
Fiscal depute Gavin Callaghan told the court yesterday that the stunt had been performed without the knowledge of the passengers and had been intended to impress an audience that had amassed on the deck of a passing cruise ship, the May Princess.
He said: ‘As a result, vision in both her eyes has been affected. She has a large black spot in her field of vision in her right eye and can only see light and dark in her left eye.
‘She is able to read with difficulty, a few letters at a time. She describes herself as having severe visual impairment. Diaphragm damage has affected her liver.
‘She suffers post-traumatic stress disorder and panic attacks. She is l eft with a fear of being somewhere that emergency vehicles find hard to access.
‘Her memory and concentration have been affected.’
The court was told that the turn was carried out to give the unsuspecting passengers an ‘exhilarating’ experience during the pleasure trip to view birds on the island on July 19, 2016.
However, when the boats completed their arc at speed they came back together closer than planned and one of the skippers swerved in the wrong direction.
Anstruther lifeboat coxswain Roy Giles, a director of the company, turned his vessel to the right in accordance with maritime rules.
But boat pilot Simon Chapman turned his boat left and the pair collided. No one else was injured in the crash.
The company, based in Cellardyke, Fife, yesterday admitted being in breach of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 and being responsible for Mrs Francis’s injuries and visual impairment.
The company admitted that it failed to take all reasonable steps to ensure the trip was carried out safely and failed to properly plan the power turn.
Mr Callaghan said the power turn had not been explained to the passengers on the two boats, so they could not make an i nformed choice about whether to go on the trip.
He added: ‘ Simon Chapman said they would undertake manoeuvres which would make passengers on the May Princess wish they had come on this trip instead.’
Counsel f or the company, Gavin Anderson, said the company no longer allowed skippers to do power turns and had taken other steps to improve on-board safety.
He said: ‘We wish to express the company’s profound regret at causing a risk of injury and actual injury to Mrs Francis.
‘ The time taken from the beginning of the manoeuvre to the collision would have been no more than 15 seconds. Both skippers knew not to pass closer than 20 metres from another vessel. The company recognises the matter is a serious one.
‘The company fell short of the appropriate standard. The manoeuvre which gave rise to the accident is simply not done now.’
Sheriff Alastair Carmichael said: ‘The accident occurred because, as the manoeuvre was being carried out, the two ribs ended up on a collision course.’
Sentence on the company was deferred until next month.
Surprise ‘power turn’ stunt ‘Profound regret’