Dunkirk ‘little ships’ will be sunk by safety rules, minister told
CHRIS GRAYLING is under mounting pressure to scrap proposed safety rules threatening the historic “little ships” that rescued British soldiers at Dunkirk.
A cross-party coalition has urged the Transport Secretary to intervene to help save the boats from “bureaucratic and unnecessary” proposals.
Lord Salisbury, who led the team that organised the pageant of 670 boats along the Thames for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations in 2012, fears the vessels cannot comply with the rules due to the cost.
Revised safety standards drawn up by the Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA) would require historic ships now operating on the Thames to be extensively reengineered to ensure none of the passenger decks lie beneath the water line.
In his letter to Mr Grayling, Lord Salisbury states: “The owners and operators of these older passenger boats have made it clear that the radical re-engineering required [at an estimated cost of £250,000 per boat] to comply with the proposals would be uneconomic, and in some cases impossible, to implement.”
The threatened boats include the Connaught, which has been operating on the Thames since 1911 and carried the Queen’s heralds during the Diamond Jubilee pageant, as well as the Princess Freda, one of the Dunkirk “little ships”, which also took part in the 2012 celebrations.
In a joint letter to Mr Grayling, Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, and Tony Arbour, Conservative member of the London Assembly, stated: “Some operators have told us that the financial burden of the required modifications would put them out of business.
“We are therefore seeking a commitment from you and your officials to work with these operators to identify ways in which heritage vessels can meet the necessary standards ... without threatening the viability of these local businesses.”
The MCA, an arm of the Department of Transport, said it wanted “a set of proportionate measures that will provide an increased level of safety for the public”.