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High fences have been erected around Ardrossan harbour after a 14-year-old girl on board an Arran ferry was snagged in the arm by a fishing hook.
Hollie Anderson, from Glasgow, had just got on MV Saturn in Ardrossan harbour with her mum, dad and brother Euan, bound for their first holiday on Arran.
Mum Elaine said: ‘We were just standing out on deck watching the ship leave and there was a group of four or five boys near the lighthouse with fishing rods. They were laughing and joking. Then the hook came snaking through the air and caught Hollie.
‘She screamed out and my husband Jim snatched the line and broke it. The hook and weights went right through her sweatshirt and tee shirt and lodged in her arm.’
The family took Hollie to Arran War Memorial Hospital and Lamlash Medical Centre for treatment. Elaine said: ‘Hollie had to have a booster injection against a tetanus-type infection. She will have a scar on her arm for life.’
Sergeant Stevie Leary of Saltcoats police said: ‘It’s not just the ferry. These folk have been targeting fishing boats and private vessels going in and out of the harbour. And it’s not only youngsters; adults have been doing it too.’
An Ardrossan man who did not want named said: ‘It’s a game they play. You get 10 points for hitting a vessel and 15 for hitting a person.’
CalMac regional manager Robbie Brown told the Banner: ‘We have been concerned about anglers targeting the ferry coming out of Ardrossan. In early July one of the skippers took me up to the lifeboats and showed me a weighted fishing line with a number of hooks wrapped around one of the davits.
‘Then on July 29 another skipper took me up to the poop deck and showed me more fishing line and hooks wrapped around ropes. Then the following day this poor girl got hooked. We don’t want to upset anglers but the safety of our passengers is paramount.’
Mr Brown added: ‘The girl was on the deck, right underneath where the skipper sits. If the hook had caught him heaven knows what would have happened to the ship.’
Hollie’s mum Elaine praised the efforts of the police and CalMac. She said: ‘The police came to see us at Auchrannie and CalMac couldn’t have been more helpful. I just don’t want it to happen to anyone else. It could have been horrendous; the hook was only inches from catching in her eye. She was quite traumatised by it and slept most of the time we were on Arran.’
Mr Brown said: ‘People’s holiday starts when they get to Ardrossan pier. There is a perception that CalMac owns the pier but we are just tenants of Clydeport.’
A Clydeport spokesman said: ‘We understand the frustration of law-abiding anglers, but the fact is there has been a number of incidents involving the irresponsible casting of fishing lines.
‘We were left with no alternative, and the decision to heighten the fence, taken following discussions with the police and CalMac, is final.’
Sergeant Leary said: ‘The fences went up last week under a new harbour bye-law. CalMac and Clydeport staff have been getting abuse from anglers, so we have installed a CCTV camera on the pier.’
Elaine Anderson added: ‘Our holiday was completely disrupted but it hasn’t put us off coming to back Arran.’
