£10,000 bill for captain who ignored rules

A Thames riverboat captain who ignored safety measures introduced after the Marchioness disaster has been hit with a £10,000 court bill. Nicholas Beasley, 37, was the skipper of the Tidy Thames 1, a converted barge collecting waste from riverside businesses. He sailed the vessel without functioning radar equipment when it had been banned from the water. Beasley was collecting a bottle bank days after the Port of London Authority (PLA) ordered it not to be used on the river. The…