Boat for disabled passengers takes last trip

Dolphin III has been providing free trips for disabled passengers since 2008

A boat which provided free trips for disabled passengers and their carers is taking its final voyage before being replaced.

Dolphin III, which operates in Poole Harbour and is run by local charity The Friends of Dolphin, is being decommissioned and sold.

Following one final trip with passengers, at 18:00 BST on Tuesday the vessel will leave Poole Quay Boat Haven accompanied by a flotilla of boats from the RNLI, Poole and Parkstone yacht clubs, Poole Harbour Commissioners and several private boats.

The charity has been going officially since 1982, and Dolphin III is its third boat. It will be replaced in March by a new boat which is being built on the Isle of Wight by Cheetah Marine.

Dolphin III was introduced in 2008, following on from Dolphin I, launched in 1980, and Dolphin II in 1990.

Skipper and trustee Bill Lauste told the BBC: "It is a bit emotional... but we're all looking forward to the new boat which will be broadly similar and will just carry on doing what we do next year with the shiny new boat".

He said: "We have a flotilla made up of organisations that have helped out the charity.

"It's a way of local organisations that have been helping us to mark the occasion."

Dolphin III has taken about 32,000 passengers in its lifetime

The charity has carried about 60,000 people since it began, with Dolphin III taking about 32,000 of them.

It carries 12 passengers at a time, making trips from May to the end of September every year.

Run by volunteers, the Friends of Dolphin was awarded the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service in 2017.