Coastguard campaign saves jobs but might not save lives

“Please thank everyone who participated in the campaign against coastguard closures” said Dave MacBeth, the PCS assistant secretary for the union’s marine and coastguard section, after learning the government has rowed back on some of its plans to decimate the nation’s life-saving service.  

Instead of just five daytime and two round the clock stations it’s now proposed to have one major Southern England base with 96 staff and eight sub centres of 23 personnel all operating 24 hours a day.

Coastguard watch officer Dave isn’t against modernisation but wanted to retain the current 19 stations and 220 threatened jobs and he remains fearful that despite the saving of a third of the threatened posts that “local knowledge which helps co-ordinate rescue attempts by lifeboats and helicopter will be lost.”