Resort threatening ‘tombstone’ thrill-seekers with £500 fines

Children as young at 10 are risking death and injury by “tombstoning” in Bridlington and officials are braced for casualties as the summer encourages people to put themselves in danger.

The warning from East Riding Council and Humber Coastguard comes a fortnight after two teenagers risked their own lives and that of a lifeboat crew after jumping into the sea in atrocious conditions at an East Coast resort.

New bylaws have come into force covering the promenades in Bridlington, Hornsea, Withernsea and Hessle. One of the bylaws prohibits people climbing on any wall, fence, tree, barrier, railing, post or structure without a reasonable excuse.

In recent years there have been many complaints about the way groups of jumpers behave – their foul language and the way they spit out seawater when getting out the sea.

The council says it doesn’t see why the thousands of holidaymakers who visit the East Coast resort should be subjected to their bad behaviour.

Foreshore officers and police will be enforcing the regulations.

Anyone breaking the rules faces a magistrates court hearing and a maximum penalty of £500.

The head of housing and public protection at East Riding Council, Paul Bellotti,said: “We and our partners will be working hard to dissuade people from engaging in tombstoning and will robustly enforce the bylaws.

“Tombstoning is extremely dangerous and, while we would prefer not to see people prosecuted, we must act to avoid serious accidents or, even worse, fatalities occurring on our coast, when we have the tools to help prevent it.”

The 16-year-old youths leapt into the sea near Bridlington Harbour’s North Pier – a regular spot for “tombstoning”.

Conditions were so bad that a crew member was injured as the inshore lifeboat Windsor Spirit made its way to the youths.

The youths were rescued, both suffering from exhaustion, and crew members felt a tragedy had only narrowly been averted.

Watch officer Ian Born, from Humber Coastguard, said: “It’s like a fashion, it comes and it goes. I don’t think there is a coastguard working in an operations room anywhere in the UK that hasn’t been involved in an incident.

“When trying to tell people about the dangers of tombstoning unfortunately there’s an element of society that sees that as a challenge.

“It’s not so much about there being a massive increase (in numbers), it is the severity of the injuries which occur, people ending up in wheelchairs or dying – that’s why we are very, very concerned about it.”

Tombstoning causes controversy every summer and last year a dispersal order was introduced to try to curb the practice. The council said it had no plans to do so again this year.

So far this year the inshore lifeboat has had 13 callouts – the vast majority about people jumping into the sea or threatening to do so in Bridlington Harbour.

Bridlington Lifeboat spokesman Andy Brompton said: “The call to the two lads was the first real tombstoning call of the year.

“Two days later when I was walking along the seafront, there was a group of lads jumping so I don’t think it had deterred anyone at this time.

“When the lifeboat got to them they couldn’t swim at all, they were both pulled to the boat. Both had swallowed water and were very cold. Some of the crew felt a short time longer and it would have been a different story for them.

“We hope that the bylaws work – it’s where do we go from there if they don’t.”

Nationally, since 2007, there have been at least 14 deaths and 40 serious injuries due to tombstoning, according to incidents recorded by HM Coastguard, but there may have been more.