Daredevil Hangs From Southampton Crane
5 June 2013, 15:24
A man has filmed himself dangling from a 150 foot crane in Southampton.
Daredevil James Kingston, who is from the city, climbed the structure at the Admirals Quay construction site in Ocean Village. He walks out on a narrow beam at the top and at one point hangs one-handed over the marina below.
He posted the video, filmed with a POV camera attached to him, on YouTube - and it's had more than 100,000 views.
The 22-year-old says "I didn't go up there to die. I went up there to live."
The stunt's been criticised by safety groups.
David Walker, leisure safety manager at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), said:
"An appetite for adventure is fine - commendable even - but done in the right context. The bottom line is that if things go wrong, it does not only impact on the individual involved but also their family, the emergency services and staff who work at the construction and demolition sites.
"Businesses have to go to great lengths to ensure security, and the Health and Safety Executive and construction industry have put huge efforts into preventing trespass on building sites.
"Children are particularly at risk from trespassing on these sites as several tragic accidents have shown. Part of the risk is not just normalising this kind of behaviour but copycat activities by young people."
Chief Inspector Craig Dibdin told Heart:
"We are aware of the video and are investigating how the man shown in the video gained access to the site and will be speaking to him.
"We will also be speaking to staff at similar locations across the city to make sure they have the appropriate security in place to protect their sites. Our police officers will also be paying attention to such sites during their patrols.
"However the most important thing here is a safety message. If everything is as it seems on this video then the film maker has put himself at considerable risk and he could have easily died. What is more foolhardy and what I am more concerned about, is that stunts like this can encourage others to do similar and they may not be so lucky.
"The film maker clearly gets some sort of pleasure from such stunts but he has given no thought to the implications of his actions on others should something go wrong.
"I would advise anyone to think long and seriously before doing anything like this. If they are not concerned for their own safety then they should think of the others, like their family or witnesses if they were to fall carrying out such dangerous stunts or those that might have to effect a dangerous rescue.
"Any building site is a dangerous place and people should stay out of them unless authorised."