The Front Page - Copy 36 (Local Pollution on BBC)
12 October 2009
This is a topic we have featured often here on Doverforum. We have, here in Dover, been blighted by pollution over the years and very few people are taking any notice of our plight. We keep being re-assured that all is well but at last the BBC has come onboard. Last night the Inside Out programme featured the shipping traffic in Dover Harbour and it did not make for comfortable viewing, either for the ferry companies or for those living in their immediate wash!
What drew the BBC onto the situation was some new research by a Danish Group who actually found that this pollution being emitted daily here in Dover Harbour, is actually killing people... and is not harmless, as has been said to us in the past on numerous occasions, particularly at one notable Neighbourhood Forum meeting.
We here on Doverforum have been banging on about this in the past, and for our trouble we have had some unpleasant missives from some of the Ferry Companies complaining at our stance. They particularly did not like the pictures we featured on a number of occasions. Our most acid attack came from Speedferries. Their catamaran fastferry was the absolute worst of the lot, spewing out the thickest of black muck on a daily basis, but did they care. No. They cared more about giving us a hard time for exposing it.
But back to Inside Out. The programme featured this lady on the left who came to live here on the seafront from the Midlands. Her husband was seriously ill and the doctors suggested sea air to clear his lungs. Unfortunately the couple chose Dover, not knowing about the pollution problem. Instead of getting better by the sea, the opposite happened and the unfortunate man died. The programme suggested the pollution was to blame.
The PICTURES above show DDC Transport spokesman Nigel Collor on the left and campaigner Les Richmond on the right. Les was the main focus of the programme as he is trying to draw people's attention to the seriousness of it all, and has been successful as you can see, by getting the BBC onboard. Nigel Collor has a thankless task. There is really very little the DDC can do about any of this, but as ever Nigel goes on TV to say that ..."we are monitoring the situation". Of course thats an official line but the DDC and Nigel have been saying the same thing for years and years and.... But to be fair to them, they are but a tiny cog in the wheel of officialdom. Maybe at EU level something can be done.
One slight bit of good news was the fact that P&O have fitted a scrubber to one of their funnels. This is a filter device that captures the worst of the pollutants before they reach your lungs..yes yours! However it's small beer and once again this old scrubber thing has cropped up, but its an old story.There is nothing new with this scrubber. They have still not been placed on all ships and the ferry companies, as I understand it, keep on using cheap and nasty fuel which goes right on polluting.
Paul Boland
The BBC Hammer Dover's Ferry Pollution!
This is a topic we have featured often here on Doverforum. We have, here in Dover, been blighted by pollution over the years and very few people are taking any notice of our plight. We keep being re-assured that all is well but at last the BBC has come onboard. Last night the Inside Out programme featured the shipping traffic in Dover Harbour and it did not make for comfortable viewing, either for the ferry companies or for those living in their immediate wash!
What drew the BBC onto the situation was some new research by a Danish Group who actually found that this pollution being emitted daily here in Dover Harbour, is actually killing people... and is not harmless, as has been said to us in the past on numerous occasions, particularly at one notable Neighbourhood Forum meeting.
We here on Doverforum have been banging on about this in the past, and for our trouble we have had some unpleasant missives from some of the Ferry Companies complaining at our stance. They particularly did not like the pictures we featured on a number of occasions. Our most acid attack came from Speedferries. Their catamaran fastferry was the absolute worst of the lot, spewing out the thickest of black muck on a daily basis, but did they care. No. They cared more about giving us a hard time for exposing it.
But back to Inside Out. The programme featured this lady on the left who came to live here on the seafront from the Midlands. Her husband was seriously ill and the doctors suggested sea air to clear his lungs. Unfortunately the couple chose Dover, not knowing about the pollution problem. Instead of getting better by the sea, the opposite happened and the unfortunate man died. The programme suggested the pollution was to blame.The PICTURES above show DDC Transport spokesman Nigel Collor on the left and campaigner Les Richmond on the right. Les was the main focus of the programme as he is trying to draw people's attention to the seriousness of it all, and has been successful as you can see, by getting the BBC onboard. Nigel Collor has a thankless task. There is really very little the DDC can do about any of this, but as ever Nigel goes on TV to say that ..."we are monitoring the situation". Of course thats an official line but the DDC and Nigel have been saying the same thing for years and years and.... But to be fair to them, they are but a tiny cog in the wheel of officialdom. Maybe at EU level something can be done.
One slight bit of good news was the fact that P&O have fitted a scrubber to one of their funnels. This is a filter device that captures the worst of the pollutants before they reach your lungs..yes yours! However it's small beer and once again this old scrubber thing has cropped up, but its an old story.There is nothing new with this scrubber. They have still not been placed on all ships and the ferry companies, as I understand it, keep on using cheap and nasty fuel which goes right on polluting.
Paul Boland