Local boat owners urged to bring expired distress flares to disposal event | Newry News
Local boat owners are asked to bring any time-expired marine distress flares to a disposal event organised by the Royal Yachting Association Northern Ireland and facilitated by the Police Service of Northern Ireland next month.
The risk of keeping old marine distress flares is that these may not work effectively when you need them most in an emergency or could misfire, causing injury.
As the Maritime and Coastguard Agency’s (MCA) voluntary flare disposal service ceased in December 2022, private individuals are now required to either return them to the original supplier for disposal (if available) or use a third-party commercial disposal service.
As there is no commercial disposal service currently available in Northern Ireland for marine distress flare disposal and, until a long-term solution is found, a Marine Distress Flare Disposal event, initiated by the RYA NI and supported by the Police Service of Northern Ireland will be held on Saturday, 15 June, during Police Marine Safety Week.
This runs between 10 am-3 pm at Bangor Marina, Lough Erne Yacht Club and Portrush Yacht Club.
Inspector Stephen Burke of the Police Service’s Explosives Blasting Unit says, “We would encourage all with these marine flares which are past their best to use this opportunity to safely dispose of them and replace them with more reliable flares.”
“You should never use flares that are expired or damaged.
“Nor should you dispose, discard or dump flares anywhere, whether at sea or on land. Flares are explosive devices.
“Anyone possessing a flare is responsible for it until it has been used or properly disposed of in the appropriate way such as at one of these disposal days.”
Greg Yarnall, Royal Yachting Association Northern Ireland Chief Executive Officer, says, “Many of our members across Northern Ireland have found it extremely challenging to not have a designated place to dispose of flares in Northern Ireland, so we are extremely grateful to the Police Service of Northern Ireland in putting on a flare disposal day to support boaters to have an opportunity to dispose safely of any time-expired flares.
“We would also like to thank Stephen Dunne (MLA for North Down and spokesperson for sport) for his role in supporting the day to happen.
“Whilst a long-term solution is still needed and welcomed, this will provide some immediate respite and improve safety for all boat users across Northern Ireland and we urge all boat users with expired flares to make the most of the opportunity available.”
The PSNI wish to remind boat owners that ‘Written Police Consent’ must be given prior to the purchase of Marine Distress Pyrotechnics.
To apply for this consent, the application is available here.
Completed applications or queries should be e-mailed to: ExplosivesDistricts@psni.police.uk.
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Posted by NewryTimes News
on Jun 12 2024. Filed under Community, What's On.
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