A grandfather has used the example of the ’Jet Ski Romeo’ in a bid to boost his campaign for border restrictions to be loosened to allow immediate family members to visit the island.
Dave Smith, of Derry, Northern Ireland, has been separated from his children and grandchildren here since the emergency border restrictions were imposed in March.
Now Mr Smith has penned a 258-page book which is called ’Jet Ski Man, They’ll Never Take our Freedom’.
The book begins by highlighting the recent case of Dale McLaughlan who was jailed for breaking Covid rules after travelling on a jet ski from the Isle of Whithorn on the southern tip of Scotland to visit his lover in the island.
We recently reported that Mr Smith emailed the Chief Minister to express frustration at the island’s border policy, which lets key workers enter, but not immediate family members.
He said: ’My biggest case against the government is the fact that they’re allowing other people in, these essential workers that aren’t essential at all. Yet immediate families are not being classed as essential. Parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters are essential for family wellbeing. People wanting to move to the island are given priority over families.’
Commenting before the new lockdown, Mr Smith told the Manx Independent that for his family of eight to come to see him ’would put them at a greater risk of contacting Covid. And as such I will not let them do this’.
He claims the costs of travel would be greater and ’for all eight returning to the IoM would be a greater risk to the Manx population’.
He added: ’If I was to come to the Isle of Man, it would be a cheaper and less riskier option. I would self isolate in a dedicated hotel on the Isle of Man. In a nutshell one person travelling to the IoM is far safer and proficient than eight or more leaving the island and returning.’ Mr Smith says his book begins with a ’comical look’ at ’a situation that could have ended up with the death of a person seeking justice during a pandemic’. The book is £12, from Jetskiman.com