Quarry firms send 'tombstoning' warning

With an increasing number of teenagers recording YouTube videos showing friends “tombstoning” into flooded quarries, the Quarry Products Association (QPA) has sent a warning ahead of the bank holiday to encourage people to think twice before trespassing.

Tombstoning is the apt name for the fad of jumping from height from quarry faces or cliffs into water. The first fatality of tombstoning in the UK was 24-year-old Stephen Royston who died after jumping 30m into a flooded Cornish quarry in 2003.

Rescue services in Wales last week sent out a warning after videos of teenagers jumping into Welsh quarries – including a 9m leap into Llanberis Quarry in North Wales – were posted on YouTube.

Now, as part of its Play Safe…Stay Safe campaign, the QPA is reminding people of the dangers of trespassing on to quarries, calling the growing focus on online recordings of people quarry jumping a worrying trend.

“Quarries are dangerous places and any fad that leads people to trespass and put themselves as risk has to be discouraged. And this goes for tombstoning or other activities such as stealing birds’ eggs,” the QPA’s Tim Parry told MQR.

A new survey by the QPA shows that 60% of its members’ quarries have experienced trespassing problems over the past two years and over half expect some form of incident during the rest of 2008.

The survey also shows that it is the over-25s who are the worst offenders when it comes to trespassing. QPA chairman Lynda Thompson called on these people to change their behaviour: “Children following this example could be exposed to unseen dangers,” she said.