Portcullis House, Westminster

30. January 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Coastguards, CoastguardSOS, Environment, MCA Cuts, Oil Spills, SafetyAtSea

For those of you who are on Twitter, my name there is @lynnerosie and tomorrow I’m honoured to be going with @Coastguard_SOS and @sosmhcoastguard to a meeting with Mrs Louise Ellman, Chair of the Transport Select  Committee.

The meeting concerns the proposed Maritime and Coastguard Agency cuts to the actual Coastguard Stations. I am proud to live in this wonderful isle of ours and that is what makes where we live so special. We are an island nation – I can remember (many years ago!) when I was in primary school being taught to sing patriotic and rousing songs, one of which included the following -

‘Hearts of oak are our ships, jolly tars are our men, we always are ready, steady boys steady’

I always think of those words when I think of the wonderful teams of people who work at the Coastguard Stations. They are the 4th Emergency Service (as the previous post explained). Our navy has always been our pride and joy and I was looking for a suitable pic to use when I came across this article. It was published on the 17.11.2011 on the MSN News site. Oh my goodness, we are going to have to ask the French for help and hire out their rescue services if there are any disasters in the English Channel!

European MPs have hit out at the British Government's cuts to the coastguard service

European MPs have hit out at the British Government’s cuts to the coastguard service

British and French Socialist Euro-MPs have joined forces to attack UK Government cuts to the coastguard service.

“UK ships will now have to rely on the French to come to the rescue if they get into trouble in the waters of the Channel,” said Brian Simpson MEP, chairman of the European Parliament’s transport committee. “This is further proof, if ever we needed it, that the UK Government’s cuts are going too far and it’s a sorry state of affairs.

“The British have been able to ensure safety of stricken vessels at sea in our coastal waters in one way or another for many hundreds of years, and this is a sad day for British pride as we now abandon the English Channel and cut coastguard services around the rest of the British coast.”

French MEP for North-West of France Estelle Grelier said: “It is unfair for the British Government to expect their work to now be financed by the French national budget. Privatising the UK coastguard service clearly undermines its efficiency.”

Four British tugs were withdrawn from service in the Dover Straits – one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world – at the end of September. One of their main tasks was to get any stricken vessels, many carrying oil and chemical waste, out of the shipping channels and to safety to avoid an environmental disaster.

Security in the area is now financed by France, with Britain able to pay for the use of the service in an emergency.

Calls for the creation of an EU Coastguard have been opposed by Ukip. Derek Clarke, Ukip MEP, said: “The British Government must scupper this idea immediately. The EU has already taken control of our fisheries and they now wish to float a proposal to take over control of our coastguard.”

He also criticised the reduction in UK coastguard services, saying: “The coalition Government has already decided to close eight British coastguard stations to leave the total number of open centres at eleven – a dangerous move for the safety of our fishermen.”

In fact, it is a very dangerous move for anyone venturing near our beaches or out at sea.  We can but hope common sense will prevail, however ……..

We’ll let you know how the meeting goes.

The 4th Emergency Service

29. January 2012 · 3 comments · Categories: Coastguards, CoastguardSOS, Environment, MCA Cuts, SafetyAtSea

A picture of a 100ft water plume thrown up by the sea in average wind & sea conditions, to demonstrate the weather volunteers operate in.

I have never written an article for a blog before but I guess this subject has got me worked up enough to start.

Having lived on the coast all my life in the place of my roots, I understand that the work of the RNLI is a constant reminder of the dangers of the sea, this is similarly so in most coastal communities. Much of the UK also recognises the inherent bravery of crews and support the charity with donations & admiration.

However, behind nearly every launch is the Government’s 4th emergency service HM Coastguard. The men & women of this service belong to the oldest 999 service in the UK, as it was formally named on 15th January 1822 after integration of the Preventative Water Guard which was formed in 1809.

The work of HMCG is quite far ranging but in essence they are responsible for all incidents in the waters around the UK and also all Civil Search & Rescue (SAR) across the whole of the country.

The current system of Regional Rescue Centres works extremely well, with each station knowing their patch intimately & working closely with all Rescue assets including the RNLI, Independent lifeboats, Volunteer, HMCG SAR teams and Helicopter SAR services.

In a misguided attempt to save a small amount of money, the Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) which runs HMCG, has decided to change the whole structure & methods of operation of the service.

Much campaigning has been done to stop the service from being destroyed by losing the vital local knowledge and working relationships. The fact remains that there are still dangers in the current amended plan.

Recent maritime tragedies have highlighted the dangers of all marine environments and serve to beg the Government to use extreme caution in the changes to HMCG.

I know the value of all Rescue groups, especially that of UK’s 4th emergency service. If the system changes and something fails, lives will be put at risk including those of the Volunteers that heroically brave extreme conditions.

Safety 1st not politics or cost, lives have value beyond the balance sheet.

Help fight Station closures and retain the vital local knowledge.

Written by Coastal Joe

 

SOS :Save Our Coastguard Stations: SOS

23. January 2012 · 1 comment · Categories: Coastguards, CoastguardSOS, Environment, MCA Cuts, SafetyAtSea, Uncategorized

New Year 2012 was spent on the Gower Peninsula in Wales and was made more special by dropping in to visit the Swansea Coastguard Station. The seemingly, periously perched Station is situated at Tutt Head, Mumbles and is responsible for a large and hazardous operational area, including Marsland Mouth, North Devon/Cornwall Border to River Towy, Camarthen.

To put things in context with the recent Costa Cruise ship disaster off the Italian coast, have a look at the last post (SOS – Save Our Souls – Please!) and thank goodness that it did not happen off our coast now that we no longer have the four special tugs stationed around the coastline – our first line of defence against any potential oil spills.

Swansea Coastguard Station is currently the Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre for the area.  It would be the responsibility of the Coastguard to co-ordinate the rescue attempts that we have watched on the TV and web, should this have happened in their geographical area. And what if they are not there?  What is the proposed alternative?

At the moment, Swansea has many more incidents than Holyhead and Milford Haven stations combined!  A frightening statistic made up of boats overturned/in mud, people in water/stranded, surfers and suicides, to name but a few. Why Swansea is so successful in responding to these incidents is the local knowledge the coastguards have from living and working in the area. It is the same with all Coastguards Stations, local knowledge saves lives.

You would not expect an experienced and knowledgable London cabbie to know landmarks in a place one hundred and seventy-five miles away, so why would you put the lives of people in the Swansea area, in the hands of the Southampton Station? No offence meant to the wonderful people stationed there, but equally, Swansea would no more know their way around Southampton landmarks than the Southampton team would in Swansea’s area.

So, for example, when there are two caves with exactly the same name but in totally different locations and people stranded with the tide coming in ~ which do you go to?  Lives count on the decisions made and, if the person responding to the call has no local knowledge of that particular area, then they may possibly choose the empty cave rather than go to where the stranded people are.  And if the ship or person is at sea and they can only say where they are by what they can see ashore, again, only local knowledge can save the day – and the people! Especially when you realise that the strength of the currents can take people and boats quite a few miles in just half an hour!  So the ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival) needs to be gauged against the position they will be in, otherwise no-one and nothing will be found.

Not sure how the MCA will be able to achieve the statement on its website;

Our highly trained Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre personnel are ready to respond to emergency calls 24-hours, 365 days a year for the UK coast and surrounding waters. Our primary aim is to reduce incidents through prevention activity, education and improved regulations while maintaining effective enforcement.

Well, they will be able to respond to incidents but not how their vision sees it;

Our vision is to be the best maritime safety organisation in the world, committed to Safer Lives, Safer Ships, Cleaner Seas.

At Swansea Coatsguard Station, we met four fantastic team members; all of whom were expert in all things to do with the Coastguard Service and the area of responsibility of Swansea.  It was a privilege to see around the station.

The ‘cave’ is a classic example for the Maritime Minister, Mike Penning, MP for the landlocked Hemel Hempstead constituency, to take notice of.  Would that he would pay more heed to the needs of the people and not the need to balance budgets! The irony of the matter is that Swansea was one of the Stations saved on the first listing, but someone decided to change that for the second listing, even though Swansea met all the original criteria of road and rail links, communication systems and recruitment. Sometimes with civil servants, it really is a question of where has common sense gone! Politics and budgets should bear no part on decisions that may have an affect on our lives, seems morals and standards get left behind.

Working in the travel, tourism and hospitality sector myself, if anything happens to any visitors to our wonderful isle, well, it would be an absolute disaster. Both for the people involved and for the tourism industry as a whole.  Great Britain is so wonderfully unique because it is an island with a mixture of picturesque and dangerous coastlines.  Extremely dangerous around the area of reponsibility for Swansea.  And if the proposed changes do go ahead, then the Milford Haven Coastguard Station would have to take on the responsibility of the Swansea Coastguard Stations, meaning they would have more than twice their current geographical area to look after, and with no extra personnel – not fair on anyone.

Since reading the first news of these ludicrous proposals, I have been privileged to make friends with some wonderful people on Twitter and Facebook who are involved in the campaign to ‘ Save Our Coastguard Stations’.  Two of the best would be Dennis O’Connor and Lou Pooley ~ great ambassadors for the Coastguard Service and very unhappy to have to be campaigning against the proposed cuts within the Maritime Coatdguard Agency.

That it should not be happening is a given – and  yet another example of the damaging and dangerous decisions this  ‘Greenest Government ever’ is making.  The current fad for the phrase ‘Keep calm and carry on’ would be the thing to do but how can you keep silent when you, and so many others, can see the potential problems and disasters these proposals would bring.  Notice the use of the word would, not could, that’s not correct; it is definitely ‘would’.

Have a look at the great new website ‘CoastguardSOS.com‘ – and please make signing the petition to save the Coastguard Stations, the next thing you do after reading this!  Spread the word, make our coast safe for our children and our grandchildren.  Edmunde Burke once said,  ‘All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing’ ~ we’re not necessarily talking about evil, but we are talking about the sanctity of life!

So, let’s make sure all these wonderful, dedicated guys and girls are going to be part of the Coastguard for as long as they want to be and for as long as we need them there – which would be never-ending!  What are you waiting for? Sign that petition!

 

Written by Lynne Gray and originally posted on www.lynnerosie.wordpress.com