News / Bristol Harbour
Harbour safety review completed
A safety review has been carried out following the death of a police officer who drowned after falling into the Floating Harbour during a night out.
PC Rehaan Akhtar, 28, of Llanelli, South Wales, died in the early hours of November 23 2025, following a day of heavy drinking with friends.
An inquest in May recorded his death as accidental and that there was no one else involved.
His sisters called for better safety measures around the city’s waterfront, including extra barriers and improved lighting.
But Avon coroner Dr Peter Harrowing declined to recommend that more measures were needed or issue a ‘prevention of further deaths report’ after deciding that Bristol City Council and other responsible authorities already had enough in place, such as ‘grab chains’, to help people get out of the water.
Rehaan’s sisters called for a safety review of the Floating Harbour after the death of their brother
Harbourmaster David Lockwood told the inquest that a ‘comprehensive framework’ to manage safety was already in place and that fencing the whole area was not acceptable or practical because it was a working harbour and that this would prevent boats and ships operating as normal.
He said extensive railing would ‘fundamentally alter the harbour’s character’.
However, following the tragedy and other deaths in the harbour over the past few years, the council appointed an external consultant at the end of March to undertake a comprehensive harbour-wide health-and-safety review to see if more could be done to protect people.
Harbour committee chair councillor Andrew Brown (Lib Dem, Hengrove & Whitchurch Park) told councillors at their latest meeting on Tuesday that the initial findings had now been shared with the harbour team and that a final report would be published in late July.
Following that, an action plan would be produced based on its recommendations, the committee was told.
The update came in the harbourmaster’s quarterly report, which also highlighted serious problems with some of the harbour’s infrastructure.
Mr Lockwood said the pontoons at Bathurst Basin had been withdrawn from use because of the poor condition of the supporting beams.
He said that meant finding replacement berths for 30 vessels at short notice ahead of essential replacement works.
The report said the harbour’s Entrance Lock, gates and sluice structures would undergo extensive inspection over six weeks to assess what repairs might be needed over the next five to 10 years.
In the meantime, short-term works will be carried out, and there is currently a low-speed and restricted access system in place because of its condition.
It said Pero’s Bridge’s electrics and hydraulics needed an ‘overhaul to get working’, while a survey of Netham Lock had identified renewal works were required for some of its parts.
All photos: Martin Booth
Read next:
- Harbour safety review to be carried out as petitioners call for changes
- Report claims Floating Harbour gates ‘have surpassed their expected lifespan’
- Body recovered from harbour in search for missing man
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