Daily Casefile · Forensic
The Tide-Hall Deluge
≈ 9 min
The waiting hall at Porthmere Ferry Terminal suffered a severe internal flood after a pressurised freshwater feeder pipe — running inside the eastern wall — gave way. The terminal manager, Hugh Cassel, claims the damage resulted from a single accidental burst. However, the terminal's insurers have asked investigator Ros Tanner to determine whether an earlier deliberate diversion of flow caused the burst, and in what order the four key events unfolded. Ros must reconstruct the chronological sequence from six documented events to determine whether negligence or interference preceded the structural failure.
The scene
Porthmere Ferry Terminal — a 1960s ferro-concrete waiting hall on the Cornish coast, housing passenger benches, a coin-operated luggage-storage wall, and a locked boiler-plant annex
The events
- Feeder pipe EW-2 bursts inside the eastern partition wall
- Investigator Ros Tanner makes initial survey of the flooded hall
- Maintenance operative opens the east-wall isolation valve
- Emergency plumber isolates flow and installs a temporary patch on EW-2
- Duty manager resets the boiler-plant pressure gauge to zero
- Passengers and luggage evacuated; hall sealed by terminal staff
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This case first aired on August 8, 2026. A fresh forensic runs every morning — same rules, five minutes, one solution.