Duck boat tours: 'Standards not met' in Liverpool and London incidents
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The Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) said it was "extremely fortunate" no-one was hurt when a craft sank in Liverpool in June 2013.
It was the second vehicle to sink in Salthouse Dock in a three-month period.
Another Duck craft also caught fire on the River Thames in London in September 2013, with 30 people evacuated.
On both the sinkings, the report found the Ducks did not have
the quantity of buoyancy foam required to provide the "mandated level
of residual buoyancy".
Amphibious DUKWs - or Ducks
- The DUKW - also known as a Duck - is a six-wheel-drive amphibious truck first made in the US in the mid-1940s
- 21,000 DUKWs were produced for use during World War Two to move men and materials ashore where no port facilities existed
- Many served on D-Day and in the Normandy landings, where 40% of supplies landed on the beaches were carried by DUKWs
- DUKWs remained in service with the British and other armies into the 1970s
- All four Duckmarine vehicles operated in Liverpool were built almost 70 years ago
Steve Clinch, chief inspector of the MAIB, said it became clear
that other Ducks operating in the UK also did not have the quantities
of foam required.
London Duck Tours made buoyancy amendments to their vessel,
but Mr Clinch said the "foam was so tightly packed around machinery that
it caught fire".
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'Insufficient buoyancy foam'
It also found the Maritime and Coastguard Agency's (MCA)
periodic inspection regimes and their unscheduled interventions had been
ineffective.
More than 20,000 DUKW vehicles were produced for use during WW2.
Mr Clinch said: "The sinking of two Liverpool DUKWs in quick
succession highlighted extremely poor standards of maintenance, and that
for nearly 14 years they had operated with insufficient buoyancy foam
to keep them afloat should they suffer major damage.
"It was extremely fortunate when DUKW Wacker Quacker 1 sank
in Salthouse Dock that none of the 33 passengers and crew on board were
drowned or injured as they abandoned ship."
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The MAIB said it was a concern it took two "potentially fatal"
accidents to prompt a "framework for safely operating" the vehicles.
The report said that Liverpool Duck operators The Yellow Duck
Marine was no longer operating, while London Duck Tours had made
various amendments.
The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh were pictured taking a
trip on a Duck in Liverpool when they visited Merseyside as part of the
Diamond Jubilee tour in 2012.
....and staying with a 'yellow' theme!
SEE ALSO THE LATEST ON THE FOCUS FLICKR SITE
A bit of an 'oooops' moment occurred on Saturday 13th December just gone, when a test train derailed at Hindlow near to Buxton, Derbyshire. The train was IQ20 Derby to Longsight and hauled by 97301 with 97303 on the rear. Front and rear of the train took different routes at the points, and our correspondent Roger Kaye was on hand shortly afterwards to record the result. All was restored to normality by the following day. A series of images can now be viewed by clicking here
....and staying with a 'yellow' theme!
SEE ALSO THE LATEST ON THE FOCUS FLICKR SITE
A bit of an 'oooops' moment occurred on Saturday 13th December just gone, when a test train derailed at Hindlow near to Buxton, Derbyshire. The train was IQ20 Derby to Longsight and hauled by 97301 with 97303 on the rear. Front and rear of the train took different routes at the points, and our correspondent Roger Kaye was on hand shortly afterwards to record the result. All was restored to normality by the following day. A series of images can now be viewed by clicking here
