Missing lifebelts spark safety fears

There are calls for CCTV cameras along the Thames

Relatives of the Marchioness river boat victims are calling for new security measures to stop lifebelts being vandalised in central London.

A spot check by BBC London revealed two thirds of the life-saving devices were missing on a stretch of the river between Westminster Bridge and Lambeth Bridge and all eight had gone on Lambeth Bridge itself.

Fifty-one people were drowned when the Marchioness sank near Southwark Bridge in 1989.

A recommendation of the public inquiry into the disaster was that more lifebelts should be available by the river.

Many lifebelts have disappeared in central London

Eileen Dallaglio's 19-year-old daughter Francesca was among those killed when a dredger hit the Marchioness.

"In the centre of London where these lifebelts went missing there are seven or eight bridges", she told BBC London.

"If anybody falls in that water when the tides are flooding, it's just curtains for them, they wouldn't survive."

Transport for London (TfL) is responsible for the belts and contracts out maintenance of them to a company called Parkman.

They carry out maintenance and replace the missing ones.

But TfL admits it is hard to keep up with the amount that go missing.

The Marchioness group believes that CCTV cameras along the Embankment would act as a deterrent and early warning system.