Arrest

[j.sabourn]

Thanks Vic, thought I wasn’t very far off. I believe the Scottish Education system is also ahead of England. My daughter who has a B.Ed. First class honours degree. And was teaching in England. When her husband went up to Scotland to work for BP in their labs. She had to go for extra qualifications to be able to teach in Scotland. They lived in Linlithgow for a number of years. Cheers JS

[Red Lead Ted]

It would appear he is facing 14 charges, one is ' attempted rape ' - this is going to be interesting.

One wonders why her ladyship has referred herself to an independent ministerial ethics body after bowing to intense pressure to allow an investigation into her actions in the Alex Salmond sexual harassment case.


Watch this space !!!!!!!!!

Old saying Chris...………. No smoke without fire these allegation's of sexual misconduct seem to be following him around he has just been acquitted of similar charges, Yet looks like he will find himself back in the dock for a 2nd time. Something isn't quite right. Lets wait and see the outcome before we judge him. INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY...……………….

[vic mcclymont]

Thanks Vic, thought I wasn’t very far off. I believe the Scottish Education system is also ahead of England. My daughter who has a B.Ed. First class honours degree. And was teaching in England. When her husband went up to Scotland to work for BP in their labs. She had to go for extra qualifications to be able to teach in Scotland. They lived in Linlithgow for a number of years. Cheers JS

Jun, many years since the Scottish Education system was ahead, like everything else bee dumbd down.
Vic

[robpage]

#8... Scottish law differs in some ways to English law Rob. They have what is called a Proculator Fiscal. What his or her full duties are I don’t really know but the Scottish members will know better. I know when I had to make statements to the police they made them on behalf of the Proculator Fiscals Office. I believe it must be something on line with the District Attorneys Office in the USA who dcides on any prosecutions. I do know if you have to appear at any civil inquiry you are personally issued the summons by police officers stating the consequences of none compliance. lls. Cheers JS

just interview under caution by HSE , and that was no fun , there is no right to remain silent

[j.sabourn]

#14 I was advised by the many seafarers off other ships who were on the stand long before me not to say too much. I had no intention of doing so in any case the few questions I was asked I just said yes or no to.. I never elaborated and even to this day haven’t. If they thought they were going to make a meal out of me they had another think coming. I wasn’t there to discuss other people’s deaths and the manner of their personal way of dying. After about 10 minutes Lord Cullen released me from the stand. So after about 6 months waiting it was for 10 minutes. Any juicy bits the media thought they were going to be able to inflate into a blockbuster they got a disappointment. Had to get their stop press fairy tales from others who what they didn’t know made up to suit. A lot of people on the other hand must have been pleased I didn’t yap like a housewife over the garden fence.. Before being called I was approached by a well known witness who was a spokesman for all those Mariners present and said “ we all know what you did out there , but there’s no need to say too much”. That is not divulging any confidences but was the actual consensus of opinion when you have a media which so often takes out of context what is said, it is self defence. As I keep saying I have very little regard for our cheap journals whose sole purpose is selling papers one way or another. I tried to illustrate this when Iquoted the headlines in the Press and Journal which said Skipper did not check ship before he sailed. This was in reply to a question did I personally count 300 hot water bottles, 300 blankets, 300 chairs. I said no , the seals were unbroken on such. JS

[robpage]

The HSE actually had a section of rights in interview that was of Greater power than Lee Police and Criminal Evidence Act you could be interviewed under a belief section 2 which gave you no right to remain silent and the HSE inspectors were absolute truth seeking inquisitors we had had a man who had had his calf pierced buy a 50 by 75 mm forklift tyne it had gone right through his leg . I was interviewed because although the forklifts won't my area of responsibility I got out there with a set of Allen keys and bolted it and handed him over to the ambulance men with the time still in his leg apparently was more dangerous to take it out than to take it with him . The HSE where on site within an hour and want to know why we are all done what we had done why the forklift driver who was driving the offending vehicle had not waited for the curtains to open before he drove through them not realising that it mate with the other side and he received a lot of hostility from the production manager at that point we all got cautioned and to be perfectly honest it was bloody uncomfortable all I done was trying to help and now I'm under caution because the production manager wasn't going to answer anything he's seen too many detective dramas and was pleading no comment unfortunately you cannot legally plead no comment to the HSE . We were always under strict instructions could never comment to a local paper the Portsmouth Evening News because they were very much and the local industry unless of course you was heavily into advertising with them and if you wish them good day they could translate it into anything they felt like so you actually never even answered them or acknowledge them you can't trust the buggies

[j.sabourn]

#16... Those would be my sentiments Rob without even knowing it. If you notice in my explanation of my disaster experiences , I told my own people to make no comments to the press before being interviewd by the police. This apparently was not adhered to by others. The media were putting out personal so called stories as the disaster was unfolding. A book was even written by a self acclaimed man of the moment hardly before the enquiry was started. Was this so called book of facts entered as an article of evidence.? If it was even though I have never read have listened to other people’s remarks who have taken it as factual. Newspaper stories taken out of total context. The HSE people are only human and I can’t see them as being any more competent of extracting the truth than any other law department. Why wasnt any action taken against people be it the media or others publishing erroneous material , which happens nearly every day today ? All my statements I made were made to the correct authorities the same as my crew , even though at least one of them was offered 2000 pounds within 2 hours of landing ashore. The only statement I made to the media was 20 years later and is on this site, and even that was taken out of context by only being published in part. The other books I have glanced at written by others who weren’t there I could pull apart like a piece of spunyarn. But what’s the point. The self acclaimed one was here in Fremantle when I arrived here in 1991, he was giving paid lectures to audiences until I wrote a letter to his crony in the press. However he has gone from success to success and is now among other things a TV executive , I have nothing against his success as long as he keeps clear of me. There are too many sore points associated about the PA disaster to bring back. Let sleeping dogs lie. I think I’ve spelt lie correctly. Cheers JWS

[robpage]

Because of PA , and the HSE reinforcement of Permit to Work countless lives have been saved

[j.sabourn]

My idea of a permit to work has more or less always been therei in other terms. It means to me having someone with the authority and knowledge to allow that work to be carried out. Not a piece of paper. When it all comes down to basics, it is training those who are responsible , to take their position seriously and act accordingly, and not thinking that a piece of paper has been signed so everything is hunky dory.. Whenever this permit to work is mentioned as the answer to everything it always reminds me of the second coming up to see the chief and saying he’s having trouble with number two piston , and the chief on his last part of the whiskey bottle , says get my ticket out of the top drawer and wave that at it. Today is Australia Day and my whiskey bottle is almost MT as well. Cheers JS

[robpage]

Modern day thinking is everybody seems to have a trained claims lawyer and if somebody's got your name on a piece of paper to say that you said it safe then guess where the blame is going to stop in all truthfulness the old fashioned way of common sense and checking things out yourself work brilliantly but now the paperwork has to be signed off so if it goes wrong you know that you have somebody to blame which I don't think is the best way of working I used to find that when we had a shut down trying to get a supervisor to sign to accept the job back was an absolute nightmare nobody wanted to sign anything in case it went wrong and became their problem so although the system has safety at its heart it has paper at its head