Maritime Safety Act 2005
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Defence. |
26.—In a prosecution for an offence under section 23 or 24 it is a defence for the defendant to show that— | |
(a) he or she was acting under direct instructions from the person in command or in charge of the vessel concerned or a person in charge of him or her and it was not unreasonable in the circumstances to so act, | ||
(b) he or she had been instructed by that person to perform a task which he or she could not reasonably perform or had not been adequately instructed to perform, or | ||
(c) he or she took all reasonable steps to avoid the collision or incident to which the prosecution relates but due to— | ||
(i) the nature of the vessel and the service for which she was intended, or | ||
(ii) the weather, tidal or navigational conditions prevailing at the time of the collision or incident, | ||
it was not possible to stop the vessel or change course in time to avoid the collision or incident and it was not reasonable to do so. |