A Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by the Press Association has revealed that an Isle of Wight Ferry was the target of a laser pen ‘attack’ earlier this year.
It was reported in a Sunday paper and OnTheWight has had to carry out a considerable amount of research to get to the bottom of the incident.
The FOI request to the Ministry of Defence (MOD) revealed that at 6pm on 3rd February 2016 a laser pen was shone onto the bridge of an Isle of Wight ferry causing a dangerous “navigational hazard”.
Two youths seen shining laser pen at ferry
The MOD revealed to OnTheWight that the report had been made by a member of the public – something that wasn’t provided in the Sunday paper’s report.
The member of the public had called the police on the non-emergency number to report two youths shining a laser pen onto the bridge of the Isle of Wight ferry from the Broad Street entrance of Portsmouth Harbour.
According to the MOD, the youths had also started a fire on the beach, but by the time Hampshire Fire Service attended, the fire had been put out and the youth absconded.
As no further action was taken, the MOD were not at liberty to inform the ferry company, who it appears, from our enquiries, were not even aware of the ‘attack’.
Unions call for appropriate support
The Rail and Maritime Union has “called on ferry companies to issue crews with the appropriate advice and support to deal with any future laser pen attacks”.
RMT General secretary, Mike Cash, said,
“It is a sinister and worrying development that the abuse of laser pens has now extended to the UK ferry industry.
“The dangers of crew being blinded when manoeuvring vessels close to land are obvious and terrifying.
“The ferry companies must ensure that crew are issued with appropriate advice, support and equipment and the clampdown on those selling and misusing these devices must be stepped up.”
A spokeswoman for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) said,
“Deliberate misuse of laser pens is a criminal offence.”
The attack follows calls the Government to ban for laser pens and classify them as offensive weapons.
