§ Mr. ProsserTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if his staff at the port of Dover initiated discussions about the weather conditions with the Master of the Cap Afrique on the evening of 2 March; and what the wind force was at Port Control when the Cap Afrique sailed on 3 March. [116643]
§ Mr. MorleyThe Department's inspection staff did not initiate discussions with the master of the Cap Afrique on 2 March and I refer my hon. Friend to the reply given to the hon. Member for Lewes (Mr. Baker) on 22 March 2000,Official Report, column 589W. This was a failure in internal procedures and action has been taken to rectify this.
Dover Port Control logged the wind speed on 3 March at 04.04 as 40–50 knots (force 8-10) and at 06.54 as 35–44 knots (force 8-9). The Cap Afrique sailed at 05.30 hours.