Clyde tug firm fined £1.7 million over deaths of three crewmen

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The Flying Phantom capsized in freezing fog a week before Christmas in December 2007 while towing a cargo vessel on the river near Glasgow.

The company Svitzer Marine Ltd pleaded guilty last month to a series of health and safety breaches.

These included failing to put in place a safe operating procedure following the grounding of the Flying Phantom in foggy conditions in a previous incident in 2000.

The most recent accident happened when the tug ran aground in the darkness and fog, and was overtaken and pulled over by the Red Jasmine, the cargo ship it was towing.

The judge Lord Turnbull said at the High Court in Edinburgh that the case was marked by Svitzer's "enduring failure to take proper account of the level of risk of towing in reduced visibility, as reported by the company's own experts following an investigation into an incident on the Clyde seven years previously”.

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On December 29, 2000, the Greenock-based tug suffered pounds150,000-worth of damage when it was hit by the carrier it was towing.

Managers identified a high risk of "girting", or the tug being overtaken by the vessel being towed, while operating on a narrow stretch of water in foggy conditions.

But despite their findings, Svitzer did not amend its operation manual or introduce procedures to avert the risk, said Lord Turnbull.

He added that the men who died had loving families that had to endure the grief of their loss for the past six years, and acknowledged that although the financial penalty was substantial it "might seem entirely inadequate".

Lord Turnbull also said he found it difficult to understand why proceedings had taken so long to come to court, but said Svitzer had complied with prosecutors throughout the process and he accepted that the company was "genuinely remorseful".

The captain, Stephen Humphreys, 33, from Greenock, Eric Blackley, 57, from Gourock and Bob Cameron, 65, from Houston, Renfrewshire, died when the tug sank. A fourth man, Brian Aitchison, 37, from Coldingham in the Borders, was rescued after clinging to a buoy.

Helen Humphreys, the captain’s wife, welcomed the sentence and the guilty plea by the company.

However, Andrew Henderson, a lawyer acting for the families, criticised the fact that no FAI had been held, adding: “Although the conclusion of criminal action against Switzer is welcome, it is extremely worrying that almost six years on from the tragic deaths of three men in the course of their employment there has been no fatal accident inquiry held into those deaths.”

Pat Rafferty, Scottish secretary of the Unite union said it was a scandal that the victims' families had to wait six years for the sentence and it was “even more galling that no individual will be held responsible for Svitzer's negligence”.

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