I may sue, says rocket man

Monday 23rd June 2008, 3:00PM BST.

ROCKET man Terry McDonald is threatening to sue the States over the £43,000 bill for his cancelled world record attempt.

The insurance on the 125,000 rockets runs out in one month.

Mr McDonald — who has spent the last ten and a half months sleeping in a secret location guarding the rockets — says that he is facing a bill he cannot possibly pay.

And because it was late advice from the Environment department that prompted him to pull the plug on his attempt to win back Jersey’s world record for a simultaneous rocket launch, he might have to take the States to court to get the money.

Mr McDonald — a former head of the police drug squad who stood unsuccessfully for St Helier No 3 Deputy in 2002 — says that he owes £43,000 for the rockets, insurance and container hire, and that it could cost another £8,000 to dispose of the fireworks in the UK.

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1
Andrew

June 24, 2008 at 4:36 am

I’m sorry I’ve no sympathy for Mr McDonald, I completely agree with the advice of the Environment Department. Why should anyone have be given ‘permission’ to discharge subtances containing heavy metals into the environment, and how could anyone give ‘permission’. He should have checked the facts first, ignorance of the law is no defence. Interestingly the Environment department only gave advice that he may be comiting an offence of pollution if the display went ahead. How they could have proved any effect on the environment is beyond me. Personally I think he should have just gone ahead with the display and worried about the consecquences (of which there would likely have been none) later. You would hope that as an ex-policeman he might have had had a bit more sense.

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2
Sam L

June 24, 2008 at 11:11 am

I’m totally with Mr McDonald, why does everybody jump on the environmental bandwagon for an event like this when the island is full of pollution that could be avoided with a bit of effort. For example, there are many main roads that are clogged daily with traffic and not much effort is made to use public transport, most households in the island have a minimum of two cars yet this one off display is scrutinised like it will bring down the islands’ ecosystems in one fell swoop?!?! I would suggest that anyone who was unhappy with the display taking place assess their own lives, maybe they would realise their daily doings are not up to their apparent high standards of environmental protection!

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3
James Knight

June 24, 2008 at 1:47 pm

Let this silly man sue, (if he wants to rack up even more expense for himself.)

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