Sir - Is it perhaps our right to dice with death?

Technically not in Gullet Quarry because it is prohibited by bye law and now it is said that the Police may prosecute swimmers that fail to heed a warning.

Are we to see dripping handcuffed swimmers being led away in front of bemused sunbathers?

But in considering this contentious 'rights vs madness' debate it is possible to exaggerate the risk of the quarry because the vast majority of swimmers do not drown.

There had been many years between the last fatality and the tragedies of last year. Open water swimming is inherently risky.

The place on a sunny day is an idylllic, even majestic, haven. Its no surprise people want to go there and have a swim.

Patrolling the quarry is a questionable policing commitment that could not be easily kept during an extended hot spell .

One might question whether it should be patrolled when the wider community policing needs (assaults in progress, road accidents and the like) are ever present and arguably as important and more dependably predictable unlike the Gullett which can go many years between incidents.

Gullet has been made into the latest 'dare' for those determined to outwit or defy the resource stretched authorities. I think all that can be done has been.

All that policing and warnings will achieve is moving the swimmers to another open water hazard like the River Severn with its strong currents and underwater hazards and we all know it is a deadly environment even more easily accessed than remote Gullet quarry.

Andrew Brown

Worcester