Letter: Concern about safety of ro-ro ferries

From Dr Gary Slapper

Sir: The sustained reluctance of the ferry companies and the Department of Transport to act with resolution to ensure vessel safety should be a matter of great concern to all who cross the Channel by sea ("Review of ferry safety urged", 24 July).

The chance of being involved in a cross-Channel ferry collision is much better than that of winning the National Lottery yet, while people on the vessels discount the former risk, many are sufficiently lured by the latter to regularly pin their resources and hopes on it.

It is now incontrovertible that ro-ro ferries without transverse bulkheads or sponsons will sink in minutes if water enters the vehicle deck. Despite repeated warnings about this dangerous deficiency from organisations such as the Royal Institute of Naval Architects since 1985, and avoidable tragedies like those of the Herald of Free Enterprise and the Estonia, most ro-ro ferries do not, even now, have these essential safety features.

The Government has been over-acquiescent in catering to the interests of the ferry operators who are concerned about additional costs during a time of intense commercial competition. Yet more DoT prevarication ("we will have to study the recommendations [of the select committee] when the report is published") is an insult to the safety of passengers.

Yours faithfully,

Gary Slapper

Law School

Staffordshire University

Stoke-on-Trent

24 July