Last week I was proud to present the First Reading of Sam’s Law – otherwise known as the Water Safety Bill – to the House. My bill’s aims are to introduce and maintain crucial safety equipment around reservoirs and other bodies of water throughout the county, and to make it a specific criminal offence to damage or destroy that equipment. It also goes further, asking for the provision of new water safety education in schools to ensure no other parents have to go through what Sam’s dad, Simon Haycock, whose campaign has inspired this bill, had to go through in 2021.
Sam was 16 years old that summer. He had just completed his GCSEs, and he had his whole future ahead of him. 2021 was a hot summer, and Sam and his friends did what countless teenagers have done before them – they found a body of water and they went for a swim.
When Sam got into difficulty, his friends tried to help him. They found safety equipment – but it was locked.
Sam’s friends called 999, where the operator had to verify the situation was a genuine emergency before they could give the code that would unlock the safety equipment. In an emergency like that every single second counts. Unfortunately, Sam was not rescued in time.
I was lucky enough to meet Sam’s dad, Simon, in my constituency last summer. He showed me a picture of his son and told me Sam’s story. Simon now visits schools talking about the dangers of entering open water, and campaigning for a change in the law. I was not only struck by Simon’s bravery but also in awe of how he had taken the grief of his young son’s tragic death and channelled that into such a vital campaign, so that other parents’ sons and daughters might be saved in the future. I reflected on how Sam was a similar age to my own son, and how proud I am of being his dad. I wondered if, in Simon’s place, I would find such strength from grief. I’m not sure I would be able to do what Simon has done.
In 2023, there were 141 deaths in inland open water bodies in the UK – 1,455 over the last decade. 146 people every single year, most of those children or young adults. Search and rescue services respond to over 100,000 water-related emergencies annually. The Royal Life Saving Society estimates that for every person who dies by drowning, there are more than ten near misses.
With global warming and the promise of longer, hotter summers, there’s a very real danger of these numbers going up.
My Ten Minute Rule Bill, which passed its First Reading last week with cross-party support, aims to establish a legal responsibility for water companies to provide, maintain and ensure easy access to safety equipment around reservoirs. Far too many reservoirs are without adequate safety equipment. Where there is equipment, as in Sam’s tragic case, it is often difficult to access in a timely manner.
We know why this equipment, when present at all, is locked away – because it is often vandalised. To ensure it is easily accessible but still protected, it is therefore necessary to introduce a specific criminal offence for vandalising safety equipment around bodies of water. Destroying life-saving equipment is not simple vandalism; destroying the equipment that could save a life is abhorrent and should be recognised as such by the law.
Finally, with Simon’s inspiration, we call for the national curriculum to include teaching about the dangers of swimming in open water. Safety equipment is crucial, but the only way to truly prevent deaths like Sam’s in the future is to ensure our young people know the dangers to begin with. Kids will always be kids, but we owe it to our children to properly educate them about the dangers of swimming in reservoirs.
Sam had his whole life ahead of him and could have been anything he wanted to be. That he would die in such tragic and avoidable circumstances is appalling. I will forever be inspired by Simon’s incredible campaign, and I hope our bill, which will receive its Second Reading during Water Safety Week in June, will become law so that such tragic deaths can be prevented in the future.
The Water Safety Bill would prevent more tragic young deaths in UK reservoirs
