ARCHIVED - Spanish city to fine drunken tourists who have to be rescued from the sea
Spain is cracking down on so-called drunken tourism this summer
The northern Spanish city of San Sebastián is blazing a new trail by pushing through legislation that will allow officials to charge people who get into difficulty and have to be rescued from the sea due to reckless or negligent behaviour.
There are dozens of examples of drunken tourists being dragged from the surf in the popular Basque resort, but most recently the alarm was raised for two men, one Brazilian and one Spanish, who decided to take a midnight dip on Playa de La Concha after a night of partying.
They didn’t bank on the strong currents or the frigid 13ºC water, though, and were soon well out of their depth. Luckily for them, an off-duty police officer was out for a stroll and called the emergency services who thankfully rescued the pair, at a whopping cost of 6,000 euros.
This could soon be a thing of the past, however, and if the new legislation is passed, it will mean that drunken or irresponsible swimmers who have to be rescued will be forced to foot the bill.
“I would love to never charge a single euro, pound or dollar,” says Martín Ibabe, the city councillor responsible for citizen safety. “The objective here is to prevent these types of incidents from happening. The confrontational nature of this law is aimed at making people think twice.”
“We’re blazing a new path,” Mr Ibabe said, adding that in recent weeks the city’s beaches have been plagued by “clear acts of irresponsibility.”
He described one incident where an inebriated woman decided to climb down a notorious rock face and another where a man fell asleep on a stone jetty and became stranded.
The legislation has certainly been controversial, with detractors claiming that the measures may put people off calling for help or unfairly penalise genuine emergency cases.
However, the councillor has assured that only clearly reckless behaviour will require payment.
“If there is the slightest doubt that it might have been an accident, we won’t charge people,” he said, adding that he hopes to have the legislation in place before the summer is out.
Image: Pixaby
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