Disposing of flares to Davy Jones' locker

Scotty_Tradewind

Scotty_Tradewind

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I'm considering not having flares on my boat any more due to the potential hazards. Duncan Wells a fine example. http://www.westviewsailing.co.uk/2009/02/hello.html

What are the implications of filling up a string bag with old flares and a brick, and setting them over the side of the boat mid English Channel to dispose of them?

Environmentally are official disposal methods any better?
 
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Scotty_Tradewind said:
I'm considering not having flares on my boat any more due to the potential hazards. Duncan Wells a fine example. http://www.westviewsailing.co.uk/2009/02/hello.html

What are the implications of filling up a string bag with old flares and a brick, and setting them over the side of the boat mid English Channel to dispose of them?

Environmentally are official disposal methods any better?
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plant them alongside the MS Richard Montgomery they will be perfectly safe there :D
 
Net bag rotting and breaking up - flares washed up on beach
Trawled up by folks dragging the seabed for scallops
Is there an explosives dumping ground on the south coast?
Is there somewhere with over 600' of water?
Can you think of a better weighting / containment system?
If you can answer yes to the last three questions then go for it otherwise take them to your local nick saying "look what I found on the side of the road"
 
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The nearest places to Oban that will take TEPs are Greenock (90 miles) and Aberdeen (180 miles).

I recently phoned Aberdeen CG to say we were coming over to Aberdeen, could I bring my old flares (180 miles with decomposing ancient explosives in the back of the car - wonder how my insurance company would feel . . . )

He said that I would have to take them to Cruden Bay (30m N of Aberdeen) and that they only accepted them on Tuesdays. I said we weren't goiong t be there on a Tuesday, could we make another arrangement. The answer was no. Too much bother for them.

I said that I had been trying to get rid of these for six years and had many more on board. I said that I now regretted ever taking these ones ashore, would not be taking any more ashore and that the onboard flares would all be going overboard shortly. The CG agreed that it was insane that there was no practical disposal mechanism and (without condoning it) agreed that over the side was going to be the preferred solution for many people.

I cannot understand why the RYA and/or the yachting mags have not made more of an issue of this. I certainly won't have any more pyrotechnics on board once I have deep-sixed the existing lot, and will buy a couple of laser flares instead.

- W
 
webcraft said:
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The nearest places to Oban that will take TEPs are Greenock (90 miles) and Aberdeen (180 miles).
- W
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Dunno if you ever travel to Inverness - its a bit closer than Aberdeen. The Inverness MCA Sector Base will take TEPs - I've disposed of some of my relics there in the past. They seem a helpful lot, so might be worth contacting them.
 
Dont really think that a few flares are going to do much damage given the 10s of thousands of tons of explosives dumped around our shores by our government.-recall some nasty incendaries still potentially full of phosphorous coming ashore on Bute back in the 1990s
But if you are really bothered go somewhere in the middle of nowhere and dig a hole.
 
Shanty said:
Dunno if you ever travel to Inverness - its a bit closer than Aberdeen. The Inverness MCA Sector Base will take TEPs - I've disposed of some of my relics there in the past. They seem a helpful lot, so might be worth contacting them.
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It's not really about whether or not they are 'helpful'. Whereas a few years ago any local CG team could take 'em off your hands, they (or 'we' actually) are now hamstrung with new rules as a result of some new 'Transport of Explosives' or somesuch act passed a few years ago. We are not allowed to store TEP's at the station unless we have a special container (which just the appointed stations on the MCA list have), and we are not even allowed to touch the things unless we've had training.
If TEPs are found lying about e.g. on the beach, then if we've had the training we have to perform an elaborate rigmarole involving protective masks and clothing, and take the things to the nearest MRCC that can store the things, and have to take them there in our CG rescue vehicle so that might spend hours off station in the process.
If they are found on the beach and we haven't had the training, our only option is to call out Bomb Disposal, so more waste of precious time.
So while we'd all like to be helpful, we aren't allowed to be, and it's a consequence of an Act passed by the previous Government.
 
Cantata said:
It's not really about whether or not they are 'helpful'. Whereas a few years ago any local CG team could take 'em off your hands, they (or 'we' actually) are now hamstrung with new rules as a result of some new 'Transport of Explosives' or somesuch act passed a few years ago. We are not allowed to store TEP's at the station unless we have a special container (which just the appointed stations on the MCA list have), and we are not even allowed to touch the things unless we've had training.
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So instead joe public is expected to keep them in non-special containers in their shed prior to transporting them hundreds of miles in their car :rolleyes:

If it is dangerous for the CG to handle TEPs without training and special containers and if transporting them is taboo then it is criminally insane to leave them in the hands of people like me.

Something doesn't add up and it is people like you (the CG) who should be pointing this out and getting something done about it instead of wittering on about the last government as if you are some Tory spokesperson.

- W
 
It is quite amazing that these pyrotechnics go from being an 'essential' safety aid on one day to being a health and safety hazard (that not even trained people are allowed to touch) on the stoke of midnight.

What would happen if we took our flares to be disposed of one day before they were to 'expire' would they still be deemed unsafe to handle by these authorities?
 
Can I have them please?

Replies are very complicated solutions. Simply bring them to me. I am always looking for accellerants to start my old brushwood and rubbish bonfires.
 
webcraft said:
So instead joe public is expected to keep them in non-special containers in their shed prior to transporting them hundreds of miles in their car :rolleyes:
If it is dangerous for the CG to handle TEPs without training and special containers and if transporting them is taboo then it is criminally insane to leave them in the hands of people like me.
Something doesn't add up and it is people like you (the CG) who should be pointing this out and getting something done about it instead of wittering on about the last government as if you are some Tory spokesperson.
- W
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I dare say you right, old chap, but I was just pointing out some facts, and unfortunately I am but one of the 3500 humble volunteers in the CG's Coast Rescue Teams, so I have zero influence. So I suggest you do some wittering at someone else.
 
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