THE DEVASTATED mother of a well-known Perthshire musician who died after plunging into the River Tay in central Perth has called for firefighters to be “fully trained” for river rescues.

Popular 20-year-old Graham Motion, from Abernethy, died after plunging from Queen’s Bridge last July.

His was only one in a long line of similar deaths in the Fair City, and concerns have since been raised over exactly who is responsible for river rescues.

The issue came to a head when a firefighter who dived into the Tay in a bid to save a woman faced weeks under the shadow of possible disciplinary action amid claims members of the fire and rescue service are “not allowed” to enter moving water to carry out a rescue.

Graham’s mother Maureen—still grieving following her son’s tragic demise—maintains such a situation is totally unacceptable.

She fears further lives could be lost if the situation is not addressed.

Mrs Motion last night offered her “full support” to Perth MSP Roseanna Cunningham after the politician secured a parliamentary debate which will look into just who should be carrying out so-called “moving water” rescues.

“It is important to us as a family to keep these issues to the fore,” she told The Courier.

“I am pleased that Roseanna has been able to secure this debate so early in the parliamentary session.

“It seems to me that the fire and rescue service are the obvious people to be given the statutory responsibility for rescues from moving water,” Mrs Motion continued.

“They will, of course, need to have appropriate resources and training.”

Ms Cunningham is set to question the Minister for Community Safety today and will lead a member’s debate next week.

Last night the MSP said, “There are two very distinct but inextricably linked issues involved here and I have constituents who been affected by both.

“On the one hand there are the families of those who have lost their lives in tragic circumstances and who are concerned to ensure that other families do not have to endure what they have gone through.

“Meanwhile, another facet of the issues being raised is shown in the example of the firefighter who went into the Tay to rescue a member of the public and had to spend weeks under the shadow of possible disciplinary action because members of the fire and rescue service are apparently not allowed to enter moving water to carry out a rescue.”

Ms Cunningham is calling for urgent clarification.

“Lines of communication and demarcation are confused. There appears to be no one service for whom rescue from moving water is a statutory responsibility,” she said.

“Resources and training are therefore extremely limited and there seems to be confusion as to where 999 calls to incidents of this nature should be directed in the first instance.”

She will ask Parliament to note with concern the rising number of incidents involving persons trapped in moving water, that there is no clear duty imposed on fire and rescue services to rescue such people and this can result in the threat of disciplinary action against officers who do so.