A Scottish coastguard rescue team has resigned en masse, after claims their efforts were being suffocated in red tape.
The seven volunteer members of Durness Coastguard search and rescue team – with more than 100 years of service between them – left their posts last weekend.
The unit has saved many lives over the years – often being involved in perilous cliff rescues, overnight searches scouring wild terrain for missing people and even discovering the body of a murder victim.
They have also helped deal with the biggest mass stranding of pilot whales in Scotland and manned helicopter landing sites to transfer patients in need of emergency hospital treatment.
The loss of the unit means the nearest coastguard organisation is more than 18 miles away at Kinlochbervie – which is only partially operational – and Melness, nearly 30 miles away.
The mass resignations at Durness were sparked when the station officer Alex Morrison, 64, quit.
He said: “I have left for two reasons. There’s so many changes coming out I just felt it was time to go. Secondly, in my opinion, we were under trained and, in this day and age, if something goes wrong, your head is on the block.
“There’s no coverage for the area now – I dread to think what will happen if there’s an emergency. But they (the Maritime and Coastguard Agency) have proved they don’t care.
“We were not even deemed competent to let off an orange smoke signal for helicopter landings. I have been doing that stuff for 37 years.”
MCA chiefs are meeting the team this week to try and patch up the row.
A spokeswoman for the agency said its head of coastal operations spoke on Friday to the Durness Coastguard Rescue Team “to establish their concerns and how they can be addressed at a face-to-face meeting to agree a way forward.”
They claimed search and rescue helicopters could be deployed to convey other teams to the area if required.
She added: “We are sorry about these resignations. As HM Coastguard, we value the contribution our volunteers make to their communities and providing safer lives at sea.
“We will be working with the Durness CRT towards a resolution in this case and would like to assure the local community that, if they call 999 and ask for the coastguard, they will receive the same life-saving service they always have.”