Merchant Shipping Act 1988

2 In section 531 (power of lighthouse authority to remove wreck), for subsection (2) substitute—

“(2) Where a general lighthouse authority have incurred expenses in the exercise of their powers under this section in relation to any vessel, then—

(a) if the proceeds of any sale made under section 530 of this Act in connection with the exercise of those powers in relation to the vessel are insufficient to reimburse the authority for the full amount of those expenses, the authority may recover the amount of the deficiency from the relevant person, or

(b) if there is no such sale, the authority may recover the full amount of those expenses from the relevant person.

(3) Any expenses so incurred which are not recovered by the authority either out of the proceeds of any such sale or in accordance with subsection (2) of this section shall be paid out of the General Lighthouse Fund, but section 660 of this Act shall apply to those expenses as if they were expenses of the authority falling within subsection (1) of that section other than establishment expenses.

(4) In this section “the relevant person”, in relation to any vessel, means the owner of the vessel at the time of the sinking, stranding or abandonment of the vessel.”