One of the UK’s top coastguards is flying north today to try to defuse a row which led to the resignation of an entire team of rescuers.
The seven volunteer members of Durness Coastguard search and rescue team – with more than 100 years of service between them – quit two weeks ago amid frustration at the level of red tape they faced.
Two days later, their pick-up rescue truck was driven away and the locks to their station changed by Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) bosses, leaving the men unable to retrieve their personal belongings.
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 also helped deal with the biggest mass stranding of pilot whales in Scotland.
The loss of the unit means that the nearest coastguard team is more than 18 miles away at Kinlochbervie and Melness, nearly 30 miles away.
Peter Mizen, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency’s head of coastal operations, is meeting in Durness with the team today.
The mass resignations at Durness were sparked when the station officer Alex Morrison, 64, quit. The rest of the team – also fed-up with health and safety requirements – followed in support.
“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,” said Mr Morrison.
“But we were waiting and waiting to be trained under the new programme and be certified. We were waiting on several occasions over the year for training with the helicopter – once even to go Inverness which is over 100 miles away – but each time it was cancelled.
“The last straw was the orange smoke regulation. It was for things we have been doing for years and saving many lives over that time.”
A spokeswoman for the MCA said Mr Pizen was visiting the team “to establish their concerns and how they can be addressed at a face to face meeting to agree a way forward”.
“Kinlochbervie CRT are aware that they will be covering the area,” she said.
“We are sorry that there have been 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.”