Petition to save coastguard stations

[Worms]

The coastguard, just like every other emergency service, is an insurance policy. The best and cheapest insurance policy that the tax payer will ever have. Their job is to respond when someone is in distress and to save lives. The more of them there are, the quicker they can respond and the more lives they are able to save.

 

What people have to realise is, arriving too late is no better than not arriving at all when there is a life risk. Personally, I couldn't care less what the coastguards do for most of their time, as long as they can respond effectively when they are needed. Emergency services should never be run like businesses.

 

As for suggestions that management know better than the troops at the sharp end, utter garbage.

[Bob Shotter]

As for suggestions that management know better than the troops at the sharp end, utter garbage.

 

Got to disagree with you there Steve that is as crazy as suggesting Lewis Hamilton or Jenson Button should design a formula one racing car engine. If you have reason to believe the MCA management isn't up to the job, then with lives at risk, perhaps you should speak up and explain what is wrong or are you suggesting it is the same with all management?

 

Worms now please let me see if I have this right, you say that we currently have/need 70 operatives around the country on duty during darkness that are capable of speaking to seventy other emergancy service people at the same time. Can you tell us then how often that situation happens as it will be important when writing to the minister about staffing levels as well as the list of other things like local knowledge turn out time etc, bad enough with you lot calling me daft I don't want him to as well.

Edited December 31, 2010 by Deene'0

[Steve Coppolo]

Got to disagree with you there Steve that is as crazy as suggesting Lewis Hamilton or Jenson Button should design a formula one racing car engine. If you have reason to believe the MCA management isn't up to the job, then with lives at risk, perhaps you should speak up and explain what is wrong or are you suggesting it is the same with all management?

 

Well, we will just have to disagree, then. Your analogy is way, way off the mark. Perhaps you should think what would happen if you put one of the designers behind the wheel?

 

 

 

You never told me what it was you did before you retired.

[Bob Shotter]

Well, we will just have to disagree, then. Your analogy is way, way off the mark. Perhaps you should think what would happen if you put one of the designers behind the wheel?

 

 

 

You never told me what it was you did before you retired.

 

Ok so you have a problem with management where as, by and large, I don’t

 

Oh yes I forgot to answer your question which indecently was wrong. What I did to pay the bills is irrelevant you would have been better asking what I did in my spare time? That my friend you should have worked out by now.

[Steve Coppolo]

Ok so you have a problem with management where as, by and large, I don’t

 

Oh yes I forgot to answer your question which indecently was wrong. What I did to pay the bills is irrelevant you would have been better asking what I did in my spare time? That my friend you should have worked out by now.

 

No, Bob, I'm really struggling with your cryptic clues. What's wrong with a straight answer?

 

 

What did you do before you retired? And, I'm not really interested but if you think it's important, what did you do in your spare time?

[seafoods]

Worms now please let me see if I have this right, you say that we currently have/need 70 operatives around the country on duty during darkness that are capable of speaking to seventy other emergancy service people at the same time. Can you tell us then how often that situation happens as it will be important when writing to the minister about staffing levels as well as the list of other things like local knowledge turn out time etc, bad enough with you lot calling me daft I don't want him to as well.

 

I presume you meant me rather than Worms as it was me who posted about 70 watchkeepers - pretty much says it all about how much attention you pay to what others say imho.

 

I'll try and keep it simple for you. Currently overnight there are around 70 watchkeepers capable of speaking to anyone - for any reason. If the proposals go ahead there will be less than half that amount of watchkeepers overnight. Going to be a lot of 'caller waiting' coming up on their screens so they cannot possibly give full and frank attention to every call they receive - there will be problems.

[SandTiger]

What I did to pay the bills is irrelevan...

 

I don't think it's particularly unreasonable to know a bit of background on our self appointed angling reprehensive, after all you could have been one of those beastly commercial fishermen?

[Steve Coppolo]

I don't think it's particularly unreasonable to know a bit of background on our self appointed angling reprehensive, after all you could have been one of those beastly commercial fishermen?

 

To be honest, I was just wondering whether he had any experience that might give his views on emergency responses some validity.

[SandTiger]

To be honest, I was just wondering whether he had any experience that might give his views on emergency responses some validity.

 

Oh Bob covered that elsewhere. About 8 years ago he visited a communication research centre where lots of very hush hush work was being conducted, including a PCB phone exchange the size of a CD that could handle 50 trillion phone calls at once. Therefore these boffins are all very clever and we should blindly trust them. Despite their recent failure to get a centralised system of the ground for our Fire Service.

[Steve Coppolo]

Oh Bob covered that elsewhere. About 8 years ago he visited a communication research centre where lots of very hush hush work was being conducted, including a PCB phone exchange the size of a CD that could handle 50 trillion phone calls at once. Therefore these boffins are all very clever and we should blindly trust them. Despite their recent failure to get a centralised system of the ground for our Fire Service.

 

Don't get me started on regionalised control centres. Do you know why that little venture didn't work out and how much it cost the tax payer? Never mind, I don't even want to go there.

 

One thing I will say, though, Bob obviously forgets that the times when you want as many people manning the phones and radios as possible, is during the most severe emergencies which present the biggest risk to life. Good examples are the London bombings and the Fasnet race. Perhaps he thinks it is acceptable for distress calls to go ignored at times like this, just to save a few quid when things are more quiet?

Edited December 31, 2010 by Steve Coppolo