51 people charged with trespassing at Albion Falls - including a woman in hospital

The city laid 15 trespassing charges at Albion Falls Wednesday, including one against a woman while she was in hospital after being rescued.

And it's laid a total of 51 of the $135 trespassing tickets since it vowed in July to crack down on risky adventurers who climb fences and ignore warning signs at the scenic cascading waterfall.

It's a safety effort after months of injuries and even deaths. This comes after erecting more signs and fences, only to find that people were ignoring them.

In addition to the trepassing charges, bylaw officers have laid 284 parking tickets since July, the city said in a media release Thursday.

Of the 15 charges yesterday, one of those was a summons against a woman who needed emergency personnel to rescue her from the bottom of the falls.

Officers issued the summons as the woman was being treated in hospital. The summons comes with a provincial court date and potential larger penalty if convicted.

Here are some other efforts the city has taken:

• Installing 215 metres of fencing and more than 30 warning signs.
• A plan to install new "map signs" identifying the locations of parking lots, main trails and viewing platforms.
• A reminder that there is no safe access to the bottom of the waterfall, and no swimming.

Tom Jackson, Ward 6 councillor, says he plans to eventually pursue installing a viewing platform.