Northern Lighthouse Board
		Press Releases - back to Press   11 July 2007
	Tod Head Lighthouse Permanently Discontinued On 11 July 2007 the Notice to Mariners (No.16 of 2007) issued by the Commissioners of Northern Lighthouses in May 2007 came into effect and Tod Head Lighthouse was permanently discontinued. The discontinuation of the light is as a result of a wide spread consultation which the three General Lighthouse Authorities (GLAs) of the UK and Ireland carried out in January 2005. The GLAs issued a consultation document following a joint review of Aids to Navigation of the coasts of the United Kingdom and Ireland. The Review addressed the current and future requirements of national and international shipping and those of Mariners. Each Aid to Navigation - light, buoy or beacon - was studied in isolation, as well as in relation to the other Aids to Navigation in its vicinity. As a result of this review it was agreed to discontinue the light at Tod Head, which only served as a 'waypoint' rather than to mark a specific hazard. . Therefore the light was switched off and permanently discontinued at 1330 on Wednesday 11 July 2007. ---oOo--- Notes to Editor Tod Head lighthouse was established in 1897 and was engineered by David A Stevenson. It showed a character of Flashing (4) White every 30 seconds The Conclusions of the Aids to Navigation Review 2005 can be found on the Board’s website at www.nlb.org.uk. 1. The Northern Lighthouse Board operates under statute - the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 - and is the General Lighthouse Authority for Scotland and the Isle of Man. 2. The Board currently operates: 215 Lighthouses, 157 Buoys, 40 Beacons, 4 Differential Global Positioning System Stations, 26 Racons and 1 Loran-C Station on trial. 3. The Northern Lighthouse Board is funded entirely from the General Lighthouse Fund, sourced by "Light Dues", a levy paid by shipping. The Board receives no direct funding from the Exchequer or taxpayer. 4. The other General Lighthouse Authorities are the Commissioners of Irish Lights (Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland) and Trinity House (England, Wales, the Channel Islands and Gibraltar). 5. The Northern Lighthouse Board is certificated to ISO9001:2000 standard for the provision of navigational aid services to seafarers and other organisations around the coast of Scotland and Isle of Man. Certification covers the design and maintenance of navigational aids and systems, logistical support and associated technical services including consultancy. The Board is also certified to The International Safety Management Code, (ISM Code) in respect of our ships and marine management systems, OHSAS 18001 and BS ISO/IEC 27001:2005. For further information, please contact: Lorna Hunter, Information Officer Northern Lighthouse Board Tel 0131 473 3100 Mobile 07831 635393 Fax 0131 220 2093 Email: enquiries@nlb.org.uk www.nlb.org.uk