A TV presenter launched a fierce attack on the canoe-hire industry after an inquest into his daughter’s death.
Billie Clayton
Ian Clayton, who appears on ITV Yorkshire, was speaking outside a court in Welshpool where a verdict of misadventure was recorded on nine-year-old Billie Holiday Clayton, who drowned in an incident on the River Wye in April 2006.
Billie’s twin brother Edward and Mr Clayton both survived when their hired canoe capsized, at Glasbury, near Hay-on-Wye, Powys. The presenter said he had to make a choice between saving his son or daughter after the craft got into difficulties on a fast-flowing section of the river.
The girl was pulled from the water by firefighters who attempted to revive her, but she was pronounced dead at Hereford General Hospital.
Speaking outside the court, the presenter, from Featherstone, West Yorkshire, said: “The canoe-hire industry is a shambolic mess of a business. It’s a stupidly unregulated thing; lack of knowledge and ignorance within canoe hire is rewarded by being protected from the health-and-safety rules that apply to professional, guided canoeing.”
Coroner Peter Maddox said he intended writing to the Adventure Activities Licensing Authority with a recommendation that the rules governing the hire of canoes undergo a review. He issued a seven-page summary, containing 11 points of evidence to which any review body could refer.
At present, only led and guided canoeing and kayaking for under 18s comes under the remit of AALA. The coroner said the present system was too relaxed and potentially confusing.
Mr Clayton, 48, said after the verdict: “We live in times of increased awareness about health-and-safety issues yet it seems to me that any Tom, Dick, Harry or fly-by-night merchant can take money to hire out their canoe without regulation.
“If I am a customer of a canoe-hire company, I’m expected to have some knowledge of how to keep safe, how to paddle and what to do in case of capsizing.
“Yet if I wish to hire out that canoe, I don’t even have to know which end of the paddle to put into the water.
“Now, I don’t believe you can ever have 100 per cent safety and in physical activity there always has to be an element of risk for an adventure to be an adventure.
“But in the 21st century we ought to be able to balance risk, adventure and safety.”
The British Canoe Union, which represents paddlers’ interests, said: “The incident involving the death of Billie Clayton was extremely unfortunate and rare.
“It would be inappropriate to pass any comment in the absence of the coroner’s conclusions.
“Much has been made of the absence of a licensing system for providers of canoe hire equipment. It is impossible to conclude that such a system, if it existed, would have prevented the incident on the Wye.
“It should be remembered that, like any outdoor activity, canoeing is an assumed-risk sport, and that generally canoeing is as safe as the participant makes it.
“As well as hiring equipment, participants have choice and option to obtain instruction from a suitably qualified coach or centre. These are numerous on the Wye and in the Hay-on-Wye area."
AALA was set up following the Lyme Bay tragedy of 1993, in which four teenage canoeists perished.
woksmuggler
19 June 2008I have every sympathy for the family but it appears to me that Mr Clayton is trying to assauge his guilt by blaming the canoe hire company. If he had no knowledge of what he was doing he should have recognised taht fact and not hired the canoe without either instruction or a guide. This is becoming another case of trying to blame someone else and I would not doubt a compensation claim is not far behind. The simple fact is - if he had no experience he should not have hired the canoe. Once he did everything that followed was his responsibility
Isfa
19 June 2008A terrible tragegy. I am hugely sorry for Mr Clayton's loss and can understand his anger and need to swipe out at others. You cannot eliminate the risk of death/injury from adventure otherwise it is not adventure. To do so would make it a bland and dead as watching TV or shopping. What did he expect when hiring the canoe, a helicopter hovering above? Inevitably he will blame himself for the rest of his life for loss of Billie -At some point he will have to accept that his actions were the cause. I hope he does not get involved in the ugliness of litigation - to do so will only postpone healing.
Naddynddu
19 June 2008It feels very uncomfortable to criticise Ian Clayton when he and his family are still clearly grieving for their daughter but he has chosen to make this a matter of public debate, especially with his rather intemperate statement about 'fly-by-night operators' outside the court. Sadly, Ian Clayton must accept that it was his choice to put two young children in that canoe and take them on the river and he must come to terms with that. It will be hard and he has my sympathy in his loss but not in his attempts to divert the blame. Risk is inherent in all outdoor activities, indeed it is an integral part of their attraction for many of us. We must all accept that before we begin and, sadly, every now and again, some of us will pay a terrible price. Naddynddu
Guest
19 June 2008I agree with all of the above. I don't think any of us can grasp the anguish and bewilderment that Mr Clayton is still suffering unless something similar has happened to us. I understand, from the inquest, that Mr Clayton had already been refused canoes by two other providors because of the conditions. Surely, whatever the rights and wrongs of the specific hirer involved, something should have alerted Mr Clayton that perhaps conditions weren't suitable for a novice. It is not beyond the wit of a responsible adult to realise that the river is high/fast flowing, and having been refused on safety grounds twice that he should not be taking a canoe out with two young children.