Should the Coastguard charge for non emergency call outs

[ARA]

Well said Pete,

End of thread........troll goes back under his bridge!

??

 

[ARA]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-23223172

Even I would not recommend that this poor fella should be charged...ouch !

 

[chanelyacht]

Sorry to disagree..

I recently witnessed a callout to a mobo. 1 of a group of three identical boats that had anchored up very close in a sheltered bay close to a major north west ferry port.

We were monitoring the VHF and never heard a call from the said Mobo so they must have phoned in their plight to the CG. Certainly no pan pan given to which we could have given immediate help.

Amongst our assembled mottly group of furumites we had the capability to provide a spare battery and jump leads and were prepared to offer assistance to overcome a flat battery and or offer a tow.

The reason we were monitoring the vhf was that there was casualty working going on in our immediate area with Rescue 122 and other LB,s .

AWB was sent out to tow them less than 15 mins to harbour

How close was this to diverting a possibly stretched resource from actually saving lives?

Incidentally I have heard and would like to have channel yacht or someone who can support this that the LB's do not carry a set of jump leads and a spare battery nor are they allowed to jump start. So the solution to a minor problem is tying up a valuable resource for far longer than necessary.

I was also concerned that the other two identical boaters were unable through lack of knowledge,skill or equipment to help either start or tow their friend the short distance.

In terms of practice I dont think setting up a tow in flat calm conditions did anything to help train the AWLB Crew for far worse circumstances.

Ok, view from the seafront

Firstly, a tow in won't divert resources from another job. We wouldn't let it. Every incident is assessed when it starts, and throughout. We can upgrade or downgrade resources as appropriate.

Secondly, we don't "order out" lifeboats. Ever. We ask the local LOM (lifeboat ops manager) if they will go. They are fully entitled, and frequently do, say no. In the example of a simple breakdown, not on a lee shore or in poor conditions, I can't think of a single time I've tasked an LB without an "any vessels" call beforehand. We may, of course, turn down well,intentioned offers of help if the towing craft is unsuitable, but, again, we'll assess that.

There really isn't a problem to solve here. We'd have to be here anyway, (although government seems to feel differently), and as prv has said, a lot of our work is not just boat related. We don't always task local CGs to meet and greets, there would be little advice they could give a professional fisherman who had just had some bad luck (we have surveyors for dealing out rollickings!), but we may well get them down for a chat to leisure mariners.

You also never know what you'll find on a towed in vessel, as £20m worth of cocaine recently proved!

The RNLI and independents could of course charge if they wanted to (as in France), that's their call and nothing to do with me. My personal view is it would be a bad thing - I'd rather get someone towed in during good light, and decent weather, rather than them try every option for hours, agonise about not being able to pay, and we then have to task resources in the dark, with cold casualties, when an unfortunate situation had got a lot worse.

As for CG funding (what there is of it) it's around £3 per year per taxpayer - and that's for the whole agency, not just HM Coastguard and the SAR helicopters. Not bad for a country that imports 96% of its goods by sea.

As for helicopters being tasked to minor incidents, it doesn't happen. We don't have the final approval for sending cabs - even ours. That lies with RAF ARCC, and, trust me, they don't allocated aircraft easily.

 

[Mike k]

Ok, view from the seafront

Firstly, a tow in won't divert resources from another job. We wouldn't let it. Every incident is assessed when it starts, and throughout. We can upgrade or downgrade resources as appropriate.

Secondly, we don't "order out" lifeboats. Ever. We ask the local LOM (lifeboat ops manager) if they will go. They are fully entitled, and frequently do, say no. In the example of a simple breakdown, not on a lee shore or in poor conditions, I can't think of a single time I've tasked an LB without an "any vessels" call beforehand. We may, of course, turn down well,intentioned offers of help if the towing craft is unsuitable, but, again, we'll assess that.

There really isn't a problem to solve here. We'd have to be here anyway, (although government seems to feel differently), and as prv has said, a lot of our work is not just boat related. We don't always task local CGs to meet and greets, there would be little advice they could give a professional fisherman who had just had some bad luck (we have surveyors for dealing out rollickings!), but we may well get them down for a chat to leisure mariners.

You also never know what you'll find on a towed in vessel, as £20m worth of cocaine recently proved!

The RNLI and independents could of course charge if they wanted to (as in France), that's their call and nothing to do with me. My personal view is it would be a bad thing - I'd rather get someone towed in during good light, and decent weather, rather than them try every option for hours, agonise about not being able to pay, and we then have to task resources in the dark, with cold casualties, when an unfortunate situation had got a lot worse.

As for CG funding (what there is of it) it's around £3 per year per taxpayer - and that's for the whole agency, not just HM Coastguard and the SAR helicopters. Not bad for a country that imports 96% of its goods by sea.

As for helicopters being tasked to minor incidents, it doesn't happen. We don't have the final approval for sending cabs - even ours. That lies with RAF ARCC, and, trust me, they don't allocated aircraft easily.

excellent informative post- thanks.

 

[prv]

Thank you for explaining who does what but if you had read the thread properly you would have realised that I probably knew the basics

You said:

If the coastguard are called out for an emergency caused by stupidity or more importantly repeated stupidity or help people with breakdowns (yes we all have them) by towing boats back to port , should they make a charge for their services ?

For a tow at sea, the Coastguard are not "called out", they do not physically "help people with breakdowns", they do not "tow boats back to port" and "their services" consist of operating radios, computers and telephones from an operations room, which they would be doing anyway. So maybe you did know that the guys on the scene are the RNLI and not the Coastguard, but I think it's fair to say that this understanding is not apparent in your original post, and I am not a mind-reader.

Pete

 

[ARA]

Ok, view from the seafront


Many many thanks for that, very interesting indeedy, puts my mind to rest a little.

The majority of us try & do all the courses & try to abide to all the rules & regs but I do get frustrated seeing people flaunt the regs etc & invariably ending up endangering or wasting other peoples time getting themselves out of the proverbial p00h. I see so many instances of this & read about very few prosecutions. Just the other day I saw someone enter Portsmouth harbour on the plane, probably 20kts -25 kts & kept on going towards Fareham at that speed. Maybe he was caught, but I do not know. Maybe there should be stocks at the entrance to the harbour, that should focus peoples minds. Probably find me in them

 

[ARA]

You said:



For a tow at sea, the Coastguard are not "called out", they do not physically "help people with breakdowns", they do not "tow boats back to port" and "their services" consist of operating radios, computers and telephones from an operations room, which they would be doing anyway. So maybe you did know that the guys on the scene are the RNLI and not the Coastguard, but I think it's fair to say that this understanding is not apparent in your original post, and I am not a mind-reader.

Pete

Read Post #5 PRV post #5 which was made before your comments ...........Yawn

 

[bridevon]

Try going to France, if you need Lifeboat assistance there you will get charged.If you cannot pay they will impound your boat until you can. Be grateful that it is free in the U.K.