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The Minister of State, Department for Transport (Dr. Stephen Ladyman) announced today (13 June 2007) his intention of introducing regulations to implement the Railways and Transport Safety Act 2003 s.80 and impose upper alcohol limits for non-professional mariners. The Act applies to any person who (a) is on board a ship which is under way, and (b) is exercising, or purporting or attempting to exercise, a function in connection with the navigation of the ship, and imposes the same maximum alcohol levels as for drivers on the roads.
The statement says it is intended to exclude from the new rules "persons exercising a function in connection with the navigation of a vessel which is less than 7 metres in length and is not capable of a maximum speed of over 7 knots".
The Minister's decision is based on the results of the consultation undertaken in 2004, and not fresh evidence. The new rules are unlikely to come into force before 2008.
Curiously PWCs will not be included for the time being. The Minister's reason for leaving PWCs out of the legislation on alcohol limits is the Court of Appeal in R v Goodwin "has ruled that jet skis are not ships and are not therefore within the scope of the existing legislation". Goodwin accepted that a PWC might be a "vessel" but not one which was "used in navigation" and hence not a "ship" for the purposes of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995. There is a special definition of "ship" for the purposes of that Part of the Railways and Transport Safety Act 2003 which provides for alcohol limits. By s.89(1) In this Part:-
(a) "ship" includes every description of vessel used in navigation, and
(b) a reference to the navigation of a vessel includes a reference to the control or direction, or participation in the control or direction, of the course of a vessel.
During the debate on this clause in the House of Lords Lord Greenway said: "There is absolutely no way that jet-skis or personalised water craft, which I believe is the correct description, would in any way be omitted from this Bill." (Lords Hansard 5 Jun 2003 : Column GC260). Has the Government's position changed and if so why?