SAFETY FIRST

Other vehicles you may have seen in Liverpool, London or America are in fact old WWII vehicles built in the 1940’s for the war and landings such as DDAY. These were then converted into machines which can be used for tours. Some of these old vehicles have 1 compartment which if floods can cause the vehicle to sink very quickly.

Our vehicles are newly built and to a very high safety standard. Our Seahorse Amphibious MKII (used in Windsor) has multiple sealed foam filled buoyancy compartments and a minimum of 3 other watertight compartments, depending on the size of the vessel. It is built in the style of an “open boat”, if you were to flood the vehicle with water over the side, it will continue to float due to the 3 watertight compartments.

The Marine Coastguard Agency have extremely high standards which alongside other measures requires us to have a survey twice a year, alongside a PMI (periodic maintenance inspections) every 10 weeks for road safety.” There are no double standards for UK amphibious vessels, we are as safe as any boat and safe as any bus.

In Windsor the depth of the river is between 6 – 8 ft and our vehicle require 5ft to operate in. There is no chance of large waves on this stretch of the river. We will continue, as we have always done at Windsor Duck Tours, to monitor river speeds and conditions on a daily, and when needed an hourly basis, to attain whether it is safe to travel on the river.

Our other business is actually building these vehicles, so we have a great understanding of the safety, construction and operation of these vehicles.

We are a family run business with our local friends and family regularly using the vehicle. We would never ever put anyone onto the tour if there was a doubt in our minds that it was not safe.

We have also appeared on the Jeremey Vine show to talk about this topic, if you would like to have a listen. We are on at 42:15.

If you have any concerns regarding safety feel free to reach out!