Will privatising SAR mean rescue charges?

All The Gear said:
http://www.mby.com/news/533942/bris...ontract-to-run-uk-s-search-and-rescue-service

Sounds like an improvement to the service, but how will it be funded?

Will owners/users of small pleasure craft end up paying an annual insurance premium to cover their liability if they require assistance?

To be honest, I think we have had it good so far and that charging will soon follow privatisation.
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The same way SAR always has been: from the Department for Transport budget. It isn't being privatised so much as fully civilianised. Relax!
 
Did the helicopter in the Solent used to charge people? No? That's been a private contract for donkeys' years.

This isn't as big a change as you seem to think. The SAR service used to be a mix of civilian crews contracted by the Coastguard, and military crews lent by the Services. All that's happening is that the military are handing over their bits to be replaced by more civilians on the same basis as the current ones. By all accounts, with newer and better helicopters as the military ones are ancient and a bit knackered.

Pete
 
But whats the betting that Insurance Policy charges will increase because of this "privatisation"?
It may appear at the moment that there won't be any charges, but somewhere along teh line, someone has to cough up for these expenses.
Consider also that it may not just be sailing/boating activities that could be affected, what about hiking, skiing, fell walking, mountaineering, etc, etc all of whom may call on SAR services? Will they now have to pay an increased insurance premium to cover the SAR costs?
 
mickywillis said:
But whats the betting that Insurance Policy charges will increase because of this "privatisation"?
It may appear at the moment that there won't be any charges, but somewhere along teh line, someone has to cough up for these expenses.
Consider also that it may not just be sailing/boating activities that could be affected, what about hiking, skiing, fell walking, mountaineering, etc, etc all of whom may call on SAR services? Will they now have to pay an increased insurance premium to cover the SAR costs?
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The costs of military SAR are met by transferring funds to the MOD to pay for the budgies. There won't need to be any extra costs. If there are, the government will have to explain why civilian operation is suddenly more expensive than military. The RAF and RN started handing over their patches to the Coastguard's civilian contractors (Bristow's) many years ago, and there were no charges there.

This is, sadly, scaremongering.
 
The government employs commercial companies to do lots of the things that a state has to get done. From maintaining the roads to cleaning Whitehall offices to guarding military bases. It's perfectly normal. Stop panicking.

Pete
 
prv said:
The government employs commercial companies to do lots of the things that a state has to get done. From maintaining the roads to cleaning Whitehall offices to guarding military bases. It's perfectly normal. Stop panicking.

Pete
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Let us hope they use a better recruitment agency than the Home Office. Illegal immigrants flying SAR missions, anyone?
 
It is good news if this is finally going to get sorted and I think it is pretty unanimous that those of us who have had "privatized" coast guard helicopters for some time see no problems, both the services and CG helicopters are highly professional and there is no reason to think this change is going to make any difference to that.

On the subject of charging my understanding is that we are signed up to international agreements which mean that life saving at sea is never subject to a direct charge. The way the government could recoup the costs is through compulsory licensing, but that is quite a can of worms, apart from whether the costs of enforcement would be so high has to make the revenue earned hardly worth the effort, there is the inevitable political storm. If you charge boat owners how about mountaineers, hill walkers, boxers, cyclists, divers etc, etc.,and would you charge those groups pro-rata to the costs involved.

I think we're safe.
 
I tend to trust government as much as i do my dentist when he says this won't hurt.
So when you have a profit making company providing a service to all in distress, then someone has to decide when it is worthwhile to send up the bird.
or are we going to get to the point were you send a mayday and the operator replies,
please press 1 for whirly bird quick recovery, (no charge if you are fully comp)
press 2 for we get there eventually (and only shake the box)
press 3 for lucky dip.
 
prv said:
As I understand it, that person is a Coastguard watch officer like Chanelyacht.

Pete
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Indirectly.

We currently request a tasking through RAF ARCC as they have the overall control for all SAR aircraft (RN, RAF, Coastguard, Bond Jigsaw) and will task the appropriate aircraft - usually the nearest, but they also have oversight of other things happening that we might not know about. They also have military and HF comms with the aircraft.

This function is due to move to the new Coastguard NMOC over the next few years.
 
chanelyacht said:
Indirectly.

We currently request a tasking through RAF ARCC
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Where I said "is" I guess I meant "will be" - as in, despite the aircraft all being run by a commercial company, it won't be some corporate beancounter who decides whether to launch them. Will the RAF still be doing this work once they don't provide any of their own helicopters? Or will it be all Coastguard (which would seem to make more sense)?

Pete
 
prv said:
Where I said "is" I guess I meant "will be" - as in, despite the aircraft all being run by a commercial company, it won't be some corporate beancounter who decides whether to launch them. Will the RAF still be doing this work once they don't provide any of their own helicopters? Or will it be all Coastguard (which would seem to make more sense)?

Pete
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The plan (apparently) is that ARCC will move into the NMOC with RAF staff for a while (as in NATS distress / diversion cells) but in time this will change to be CG operators.
 
prv said:
The government employs commercial companies to do lots of the things that a state has to get done. From maintaining the roads to cleaning Whitehall offices to guarding military bases.
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..............and allow these companies to become parasites on the public purse.
 
saltylegs said:
I tend to trust government as much as i do my dentist when he says this won't hurt.
So when you have a profit making company providing a service to all in distress, then someone has to decide when it is worthwhile to send up the bird.
or are we going to get to the point were you send a mayday and the operator replies,
please press 1 for whirly bird quick recovery, (no charge if you are fully comp)
press 2 for we get there eventually (and only shake the box)
press 3 for lucky dip.
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I really think this is a red herring., we have had commercially run coast guard helicopters for a long time in the south and I am not aware of any reluctance to offer assistance when life is in danger. It is true that sometimes the coastguard is hesitant to launch a life boat to yet another engine breakdown in flat calm conditions, when for instance they know a family member on shore has a boat capable of recovering the broken down vessel. That is common sense IMHO. I discovered some years ago that some people are so distrustful of the government that anything they do is automatically defined as bad news, I don't think taking that approach is helpful to deciding if this actually a good idea.
 
glashen said:
I really think this is a red herring
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Indeed. My first reaction was negative, but on finding out a bit more about it it seems to be a good thing. Channel 4 News was doing their best to rubbish it last night - at one point their "reporter" said "They say the new service will arrive on scene four minutes faster - but with a finite number of helicopters, can they really provide as good a service as the RAF?" I actually shouted "So the RAF has an infinite number of helicopters, does it?" at the telly at that moment.

Pete
 
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