Thames river cruise company fined for operating without a valid safety certificate

Today (18 May 2018), a Thames river cruise company has been fined a total £304,925 at Westminster Magistrate's Court in a prosecution brought by the Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA) for operating without a valid Domestic Safety Management (DSM) certificate.

Sodexo Ltd pleaded guilty to operating without the valid certificate, contrary to the Merchant Shipping Act 1995, on one of their Thames cruise vessels ‘Symphony’. They were fined £300,000 and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £125 and £4,800 towards the cost of the prosecution.

'Symphony' is a Scandinavian style river cruise boat - operated by Bateaux London Ltd, a subsidiary company of Sodexo Ltd - specialising in banqueting style cruises for up to 260 guests at a time.

In June 2017, the vessel was inspected by MCA surveyors and was found to have several deficiencies.  An improvement notice was issued ordering the owners to rectify them. This was on the understanding that a new DSM certificate would be issued once the vessel complied. The DSM certificate expired on the 11 August 2017, but Bateaux London failed to rectify the faults or contact the MCA.

Between the 11 August 2017 and 21 September 2017, the vessel operated without a valid Domestic Safety Management Certificate. During this time the vessel operated cruises with over 10,000 passengers and crew.  When a company representative was interviewed by the MCA’s Investigation and Enforcement Unit, they admitted that the vessel had turned over in excess of £500,000 during the 6-week period it was operating without a valid DSM.

Mike Greenwood from the Maritime & Coastguard Agency's Orpington Marine Office said: ‘It is a fundamental requirement that passenger vessels obtain the necessary certification to operate. Operating without valid certification is not only illegal, it risks the safety of the travelling public. In this case the company did not take preventive action to rectify failures in their own management systems which allowed the vessels to operate repeatedly without the required certificates.’

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