Coastguard radio ad warns about tombstoning

The new radio filler is part of an ongoing campaign advising against the madness of  tombstoning by Her Majesty’s Coastguard following a spate of deaths from the activity in the last few years.  

Coastguard Sector Manager Ross Greenhill said,

“Sadly, we are dealing with deaths or injuries from this activity on a regular basis and we’d like to see far fewer devastated families. The campaign aims to raise awareness amongst young people about the risks involved in tombstoning.  Some of the people who have been badly injured tell us they just didn’t know how dangerous it can be.”

Nick Biddlecombe, a tombstoning victim who is permanently wheelchair bound after a devastating spinal injury when he was 17 years old said in an interview,

“We’d all go down there, but none of us had the intention of jumping; seeing who could prove that they were the bigger man really. I was bet 50p and a cigarette that I wouldn’t jump first, so I did.” 

Recalling what happened after the jump went wrong he said,

“I remember waking up under the water, I tried to move my arms and my legs to swim up and I couldn’t”