Bungee victim was not insured

A charity bungee jumper who died after hitting the ground when he dived from a 200 foot-high platform in the UK was not insured, it emerged today.

Every jumper at the south Wales Bank Holiday event was asked to sign a legal disclaimer before stepping out of the cage held in the air by a crane.

The 22-year-old man, who was reported to weigh 18 stone, died of his injuries last night after hitting the ground in the car park of the Old Barn Inn restaurant, in Swansea.

Hundreds of people screamed in horror as they saw the jump, to raise money for the neurosurgery department at nearby Morriston Hospital, go wrong.

South Wales Police and Swansea County Council are investigating.

Alan James, who owns N and A James Ltd, of Carmarthen, the firm which hired the crane to the event organisers, said it had checked out “A-OK.”

The crane had been fitted with a new cable last Friday, at a cost of £1,100 (€1,700) because a minor problem had been discovered with the previous one.

“It is also checked every six months and has all the certification necessary. There was nothing wrong with the equipment.

“But I know that anyone taking a jump has to sign a disclaimer once they are in the cage.

“From that viewpoint nothing is covered at all. Once you are up there you are on your own.”

Mark Snape, from the UK Bungee Jump Club, said the British Elastic Rope Sports Association had a code of practice by which most bungee operators abided.

But he added that there was no legislation requiring operators to follow the code of practice.

“It is a very thorough code of practice. We have been in the business for 10 years and have put between 100,000 and 120,000 people through bungee jumps without one single incident.

“I do not know what happened in this incident but my strongest piece of advice would be that when you are choosing a bungee jump operator you should make sure that they have double-checking procedures.

“The harness is put on by one person and checked by another so no mistakes can be made. These double checking procedures are paramount.”

A spokeswoman for the Health and Safety Executive said it was helping Swansea Council.