STEPS taken to make Morecambe Bay's treacherous sands a safer place to work are inadequate and will not safeguard against another disaster, a cross bay expert has warned.

According to Morecambe Bay guide Alan Sledmore, little has changed since the tragedy on February 5 last year when 23 Chinese cockle pickers perished after becoming trapped by the rising tide near Hest Bank.

Chillingly, Mr Sledmore predicted the sad scenario three months before it happened in October 2003 when he pressed via the Gazette for a registration system. He told the newspaper there was a tragedy waiting to happen in the Bay, with inexperienced cocklers most at risk.

One year on, despite the Gangmasters Bill, which is set to come into force in April and means gangmasters can only operate with a licence and under guidelines issued by the Health and Safety Executive, Mr Sledmore believes not enough has been done.

"My concern is there are no regulations since the incident," he said. "We asked for a permit-to-work system so we know who is out there. It needs to be managed better. If the fog comes in and people get cut off, we have no idea who is out there.

"The measures in place are just not adequate and there is no reason why what happened last February couldn't happen again."

MP for Morecambe and Lunesdale Geraldine Smith agreed the actions taken fell short of stopping another Morecambe Bay disaster.

"The Gangmasters Bill is a positive step forward as we will know how many gangmasters and cocklers are operating in the Bay. This bill would not have gone through without the deaths of those young people and it should protect vulnerable workers like them. So some good did come out of the tragedy," she said.

"We need desperately to have a licensing scheme for the benefit of the local fishing community and we have got to keep the pressure on for the scheme, which is the only thing that will make a real difference in the Bay and go most of the way to making sure another tragedy like this never happens again.

"As long as people can wander on to the sands without breaking the law and cockle, there is a danger that another tragedy will happen, but a licensing scheme would go some way to limiting it."

Ms Smith has put an Early Day Motion before Parliament calling for a licensing scheme and more than 100 MPs have signed it so far.

Before the tragic event happened last year, Ms Smith also highlighted the dangers faced by Chinese cocklers to the Home Office but nothing was done.