'Get out of the sea' tannoy warning sounded at Welsh beach was a 'false alarm'

A public announcement telling people to get out of the water at one of Wales' best known beaches was a "false alarm" according to a council member and water company. On Saturday, May 18, people were ordered out of the water on the packed beach at Barry Island in the Vale of Glamorgan.

It had been a busy afternoon in the area with hundreds of families enjoying the spell of warm weather on the beach, as well as the nearby annual festival Gwyl Fach y Fro. However, some families reported that around 4pm there was a 'water quality' tannoy announcement asking everyone to come out of the sea as there had been an alert saying it was not safe to swim.

It came after a charity issued a warning that 19 beach and seafront destinations in Wales had been polluted by storm sewage or given a poor water classification. Surfers Against Sewage, one of the UK's most successful marine conservation and campaigning charities, published the alerts on its website. For the latest Welsh news delivered to your inbox sign up to our newsletter.

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There was also one for the beach at Barry Island, which said: "Pollution Alert: Storm sewage has been discharged from a sewer overflow in this location within the past 48 hours. The bay is a sandy 700m cove located, west of Barry Docks and Jackson's Bay. It faces south towards the Bristol Channel, backed by the dock area and the town of Barry. Seaside shops can be found in the immediate foreground, with limestone cliffs on either side and headlands called Friars Point to the west and Nell's Point to the east."

However, a member of the Vale of Glamorgan Council has said that the public announcement was not made at the request of the council or based on information supplied by them and appeared to be a "false alarm". Water supply company, Welsh Water, has also confirmed that their investigation determined it was a "false alarm" caused by a fault with a monitor.

In a statement issued on Monday, May 20, Councillor Mark Wilson, the cabinet member for neighbourhood services at the Vale of Glamorgan Council, said: “We understand that the RNLI team at Barry Island made a public announcement on Saturday to advise against entering into the water. This wasn’t at the request of the Council or based on any information that we supplied and appears to have been a false alarm.

"While we appreciate the RNLI team acting quickly to try and keep visitors to the resort safe we’d like to reassure the public that regular testing of the water at Barry Island takes place and there is currently no reason to consider the water at Whitmore Bay to be unsafe.”

A spokesperson for Welsh Water said: "We are aware that the monitor on our overflow at Barry indicated that it was operating on Saturday afternoon. Our team has investigated and confirmed this was a false alarm caused by a fault with the monitor which can happen. Our team will now undertake work to correct the fault with the monitor and we would like to apologise for any confusion caused."