Jump to content

Save Shetland Coastguard


millie
 Share

Recommended Posts

MCA consultation document states

 

"our coastline far busier than ever before..............much larger ships that are less manoeuvrable........our seas becoming much more congested..........weather conditions are also becoming more extreme.........work at sea more perilous and increasing risk coastal flooding"

 

MCA. Protecting our seas and shores in the 21st century. November 2010

 

PROPOSED ANSWER : SLASH THE COASTGUARD

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 459
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

I have tried twice to wade through the questionnaire and failed dismally.

 

It is worse than any exam - "using quotes to support your argument, please explain and justify your existence on this planet".

 

I want to give my support - I just don't know how to fill in that questionnaire and feel that if other folk are put off, like me, then they will come back with the "no one bothered with the questionnaire, so therefore no one really minds what we do" theory.

 

:( :(

 

I hate being befuddled like this. It is very unfair and sets the proposal up to succeed by blinding simple folk like me with complicated questions.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi, I know that filling out these questionnaires can be a really daunting thing. Personally I think that the government have done this on purpose. If you email shetland-cg-pcs@virginmedia.com someone will get back to you with answers to your questions.

 

Thank you for your support

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi, I know that filling out these questionnaires can be a really daunting thing. Personally I think that the government have done this on purpose. If you email shetland-cg-pcs@virginmedia.com someone will get back to you with answers to your questions.

 

Thank you for your support

 

:shock: lol that someone would be me then!

 

I don't have the answers yet however, I've asked a couple of union colleagues if they would have a look at the questions and come up with some answers everyone can use.

 

I tend to agree with Millie, the response questionairre has been made difficult on purpose.

 

We've got petitions out to the shops & garages etc around Lerwick & beyond now.

Posters and flyers are in progress too, along with some rather sexy designer T shirts all in support of the campaign.

 

There is more to come :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I hope your Union has a better result than ours.

 

Good luck with the petition of which I will sign.

 

Is there a 10 Downing petition, if not get one too, if enough folk sign it it is or should be looked at and parties talked to.

 

You also can write to all the Lords and co who have an interest in maritime stuff.

 

Also raise the subject on as many forums as you can and get going with a Twitter hash.

 

Don't rely only on the Unions.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Its very disapointing that coastguard stations are being threatened with closure but we should not be surprised ,modern communications means that all the radio links can be monitored & controlled from virtually anywhere in the world .

 

Remember what has already happened to Met Office/BT/ Fire Service/Ambulance/Air Traffic/NHS24. All these services have been centralised in one way or another & appear to function .

 

I believe the station will close to save money but thankfully we will still have experenced rescue teams who will I am sure attend to all callouts

in the professional way they always do ,they will miss the support from the local station.

 

Well worth trying to see if minds can be changed ,but the decision has probably already been decided

 

Port Control could be next Lerwick ,Sullom Voe,Scalloway :shock:

 

Urabug

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Its very disapointing that coastguard stations are being threatened with closure but we should not be surprised ,modern communications means that all the radio links can be monitored & controlled from virtually anywhere in the world .

 

Remember what has already happened to Met Office/BT/ Fire Service/Ambulance/Air Traffic/NHS24. All these services have been centralised in one way or another & appear to function .

 

I believe the station will close to save money but thankfully we will still have experenced rescue teams who will I am sure attend to all callouts

in the professional way they always do ,they will miss the support from the local station.

 

Well worth trying to see if minds can be changed ,but the decision has probably already been decided

 

Port Control could be next Lerwick ,Sullom Voe,Scalloway :shock:

 

Urabug

 

 

That is a very negative attitude to have Urabug especially when there has already been so much support from not only the local community but all over the UK and beyond are you from Shetland if you are then surely you must realise how important it is to have a local coastguard station when we have so much maritime and offshore activity in our waters.

Tell me this if things are co-ordinated centrally from Aberdeen or the south of England when speaking to a very broad shetlander how will they be able to decipher what they are saying if that person is in a state of distress and panic this could make the difference between life and death. This is just one aspect which needs to be taken into consideration.

How exactly do these modern communications work in terms of the actual radio links please explain this. Even though it may be modern it doesn't mean they are immune from failing

HM Coastguard is an emergency service therefore saving money should not come before protecting human life there is plenty of other ways they could make savings without making such a drastic reduction in the number of coastguard stations over quite a short space of time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Remember what has already happened to Met Office/BT/ Fire Service/Ambulance/Air Traffic/NHS24. All these services have been centralised in one way or another & appear to function .

 

 

Could you expand on this please? The Met office still have staff in Lerwick, as do BT albeit less than they used to. The Fire Service still operate the same system they have done for at least 30 years. I'm not aware of changes in the Ambulance or Air Traffic either other than what could be termed normal modernistaion. NHS is a quite recent service and they are now recruiting staff to be based in Lerwick.

 

What exactly is your point here? Can you just remind me what exactly has happened to these organisations?

 

My worry would be how on earth can Shetland be controlled 'remotely' when we suffer so many outages of the microwave links and broadband links to the mainland?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes Muppet ,Met Office/Bt ect still have staff in Shetland but only a hand full in comparison to what they had years ago. This was all brought about by changes in work practises . computers & of course communications.

 

I am not being negative ,but realistic with the sure & certain knowledge that Lerwick Coastguard station can be emulated from elsewhere.

 

Of course the weak link is what happens if comms fail !

 

What happens if the hospital ,police or any other phone line goes down !

 

To be honest the phone lines are really very resilent,& very seldom down .

 

Urabug

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ok, started hash in Twitter

 

If you are on twitter, mention the coastguard and insert

 

#saveshetlandcoastguard

 

If you retweet related articles insert the same.

 

If enough do it it could trend and bring this up to a head.

 

It costs nothing, so that will please nearly all on the isles.

 

But, if you do not try, we will never know.

 

If you are really passionate about this, I know you will.

 

Don't hurt to try.

 

Has a facebook account been created for this???

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Also if folk-in-peril are relying on the communications network working, you should see how often broadband has been off these past few months in Shetland. More off than on in my area.

 

The thing is that while it is Force 2, sunny and lovely most things work. When it is pouring down, Force 10 and some eejit decides to go out for sail, then many essentials such as communications do go down and it can take 12-24 hours before they come back on because that is how long it takes for engineers to come up from the mainland - as was shown earlier this year.

 

To rely on computers and technology is plain wrong and dangerous. They fail. They are not invincible and it is amazing just how reliant, just as a small domestic household, we are to them for our daily life. So if they fail for an essential organisation like the Coastguard, anyone out there who needs help is basically stuffed.

 

I accept that this is probably a very simplistic view and I will now be blinded with the back-up science and technology out there but to the lay-person like me, that is how it comes across to me. I have heard stories or myths of the ambulance going to the wrong place in Orkney because of similar place names in Shetland. It scares me tbh.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share


×
×
  • Create New...