Leave Cross Channel Swimmers Alone

Lib Dem County Councillor Tim Prater has slammed suggestions on the BBC website that cross-Channel swims from the UK to France should be banned as "barmy". A BBC report at http://tinyurl.com/2undlgs says that the French coastguard is calling for swimmers to be banned from crossing the Channel from Dover to Calais.

County Councillor Tim Prater, whose Folkestone West division borders the Channel at Sandgate, said:

"A Cross Channel swim is one of the ultimate tests of endurance. I used to be a fairly long distance swimmer as a child, but the couple of miles I could manage in the pool is nothing compared with 21 miles of challenging sea swimming.

"Clearly you need to keep it safe, with the right support team and keeping the authorities in touch. But you shouldn't ban things, or restrict the right to do things, that cause no harm to others. The key sentence in the BBC news story is 'No swimmer or support boat has ever caused an accident in the English Channel to date'. That's exactly why there is no reason to ban it.

"We could use less rules, bans and restrictions - not more. This would be a barmy ban on real Channel Champions - the French Coastguard should leave well alone."