Lack of safety at ramp is criticised by users

The popular facility has been without a safety boat for more than a week. The problem has been compounded by a lack of supervision on and off the water.

Bognor resident Roger Smith has used the Gloucester Road ramp since 1990.

He said: “I’ve never known conditions to be as bad there as they are now. It’s a disaster waiting to happen.

“There’s a lot of kids playing on the ramp as we’re taking our jet-skies and boats up and down.

“All the staff do is open the gate at 10am and sit in their hut until they clsoe the gate at 5pm. The hut is the wrong way round as well because there are no windows facing out to sea.

“It costs £20 a time to launch and we’re not getting anything for that.”

Regular jet-skier Terry Skilton said: “The situation at the ramp is absolutely ridiculous. Last Saturday, there were jetskiers doing 65-70mph in the lane out to the buoyed area 300m off the shore where we can do what we like.

“There’s been no safety boat either. Yet it was busy with 25 trailers going on and off the ramp.”

Geoff Winters, Piers Brunton and Kevin Fretwell also complained about the ‘diabolical’ situation.

An Arun spokeswoman said: “We are aware that issues have been raised concerning the operation of the launching ramp in Bognor and are investigating them as a matter of urgency.

“Our safety boat was damaged last week and is currently being repaired. We anticipate having it back on site and operational by the end of this week.”