First Person Sentenced under the Watercraft Order 2024

Maritime News – First Person Sentenced under the Watercraft Order 2024

A speed boat driver who hit a teenage kayaker is the first person to receive a sentence under the New Merchant Shipping (Watercraft) Order 2023. The law, introduced in 2024, ensures that anyone who puts others at risk by using powered watercraft dangerously can be prosecuted. This includes small motorboats and jet skis.

This is an important message that we continue to reinforce at Newhaven Port. All port users have a responsibility to act safely, and this includes the safety of any passengers and a responsibility to every other user on the water. Owners should always be vigilant, operating at safe speeds and taking early, clear and decisive action to avoid collision and endangering others.

Judge Geraint Walters said: Just like our roads, our seas and our rivers are not playgrounds. They are required by all of us to recognise the risk to others innocently going about their business.

The man from Milford Haven was sentenced to 12 months in jail, suspended for two years and is the first prosecution by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) under new watercraft safety legislation. In addition to the suspended prison sentence, he must complete 15 hours of required activity; 200 hours of unpaid work and pay his victim a total of £1,676 in compensation to damage to property and personal injury, plus £3,000 prosecution costs.

MCA Investigator Paul Atkins said: This case shows the importance of keeping a proper lookout and operating safely. It was a very close call – if circumstances had been only slightly different, there could have been a terrible tragedy. This prosecution, the first under new watercraft safety laws, sends a clear signal that people flouting the requirements that keep us all safe on the water are liable to be held accountable for their actions.

The incident on the Milford Haven Waterway was extraordinarily dangerous with a very real threat to life, yet it was also completely avoidable. We support the MCA’s decision to prosecute the defendant for failing to keep an effective lookout.

Stephen Tindale. Harbourmaster at Newhaven Port, said: ‘This case, prosecuted under the Watercraft Order 2024, makes clear that anyone behaving recklessly in UK waters will face enforcement action.

At Newhaven Port we take a zero-tolerance approach to behaviour that endangers others and will seek to use all powers at our disposal to ensure a safe environment for all water users.’

Read the full report on the incident.