Northerly Posted January 18, 2011 Report Share Posted January 18, 2011 Killer fact from information provided by the MCA under the Freedom of Information Act. Shetland CG station is actually one of the cheapest in the UK to run coming in at 4th cheapest at only £53,036 per annum (excluding wage costs). After Forth, Humber & Portland. Stornoway is slightly more expensive at £55,150 per annum By far and away the most expensive is one of the proposed MOCs - Aberdeen at £280,311 more than twice the cost of the next most expensive. Remember folks, this is stuff they haven't told you and we're having to winkle out of them through FOIA! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted January 18, 2011 Report Share Posted January 18, 2011 please on your next visit to Shetland look me up an we can continue this discussion face to face. that is if you can find me, I live about 800 yards east of Grola just ask any one you see for directions to the shop and I'll find you there the words in bold text give you the tone of my statement, as in I doubt your ability to even find your own backside to scratch it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baron Redsain Posted January 18, 2011 Report Share Posted January 18, 2011 I am astounded that Aberdeen cost this much !!Why the hell does one station cost so much?And how can they justify keeping the most expensive station open? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skippy Posted January 18, 2011 Report Share Posted January 18, 2011 I am astounded that Aberdeen cost this much !!Why the hell does one station cost so much?And how can they justify keeping the most expensive station open? Its probably the cost of maintaining the remote antennas for the Pentland Firth and Moray Firth...... hmmmm IIRC as this was a few years back just after Pentland closed .. "Aberdeen coastguard, Aberdeen coastguard, this is the charter vessel Mo****** S*** departing Gills bay for a fishing trip 6 POB over." "Vessel calling Aberdeen coastguard you are weak and unreadable over" "Well if you were a bit B***** closer you would have F****** heard me wouldnt you "! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northerly Posted January 19, 2011 Report Share Posted January 19, 2011 According to figures just released by the MCA under Freedom of Information, we could actually keep Shetland, Stornoway & Forth all open and that would still be cheaper than keeping Aberdeen open as a MOC! Aberdeen = 280,311 Shetland = £53,036Stornoway = £55,150Forth = £44,620Total = £152,806 which is actually less than Aberdeens rent for the year!! Now perhaps people can see the true extent of the madness of what is proposed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
overhere Posted January 19, 2011 Report Share Posted January 19, 2011 I have been reading this post with interest as I personally dont want to see the coastguard broken apart. However, it now is heading towards a hate campaign towards Aberdeen coastguard. Surely this is about saving Sheltand coastguard, not blaming another station.I presume that the staff at both stations probably know each other, assist each other and work towards the same goal? This thread needs refocussed towards its main aim. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northerly Posted January 19, 2011 Report Share Posted January 19, 2011 I have been reading this post with interest as I personally dont want to see the coastguard broken apart. However, it now is heading towards a hate campaign towards Aberdeen coastguard. Surely this is about saving Sheltand coastguard, not blaming another station.I presume that the staff at both stations probably know each other, assist each other and work towards the same goal? This thread needs refocussed towards its main aim. That was not the point that was being made. The point is the ridiculousness of the proposals. It just so happens that Aberdeen is the most expensive station AND it is the preferred site for a MOC so even on a cost/money saving basis, the plans as they are currently presented make absolutely no sense. It is not, however, the only grounds on which they do not make sense! The plans are being being presented as making best use of the MCA estate - how can they when a proposed MOC is in a building which the MCA does not own and costs a fortune each year in rent and rates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
overhere Posted January 19, 2011 Report Share Posted January 19, 2011 I would presume that cost is not the only factor involved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skippy Posted January 19, 2011 Report Share Posted January 19, 2011 I would presume that cost is not the only factor involved. I presumed so too. However having read the consultation document when it was released it would seem that cost cutting (dressed up as modernisation) is the only motivation.level of service, provision of 24/7 cover, redundancy and robustness of systems, and the provision of local knowledge are all brushed under the carpet in the hope that noone will notice that they are gone!Whats more the PTB (powers that be) didnt even have the decency to look in detail about how they were going to provide this newer more modern coastguard and LIED to their staff, government and the public about the studies they had supposedly undertaken. All not good! PS . i am in no way part of or affiliated to Shetland cg or any other station Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gorgonzola Butt-cheese Posted January 19, 2011 Report Share Posted January 19, 2011 From Magnie Stewarts excellent letter - " squandering our money" Do a very simple sum: the Royal Bank of Scotland is to pay out £1 billion in bonuses, while closures of the coastguard stations will save £20 million over five years. Then divide 1 billion by 20 million and multiply by 5. The answer is that the RBS bonuses could keep the coastguard stations open for 250 years. Every way you look , closure of schools and vital services ... Its daylight robbery . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northerly Posted January 19, 2011 Report Share Posted January 19, 2011 Further news from FOIA information received today. As we suspected, MCA intend to use the existing, interruption prone microwave relay links to the UK mainland as the means of carrying radio traffic to and from Shetland. There are no plans for that infrastructure to be improved in any way. They said: "1. It is intended that only existing technologies will be used to enable the future concept of operations – to this end, it is currently the MCA’s understanding that the existing BT infrastructure used to effect our distress monitoring and communications are currently not switched within the BT infrastructure on the Shetland Islands. If this is confirmed by BT this means that all communications from the remote radio sites are sent from the Islands to the mainland before being sent back to Lerwick to the MRCC. Any return comms from an operator based on Shetland necessarily takes the same path in return to the hilltop for broadcast to air. It follows that no change is envisaged in the reliability, resilience or security of the communications infrastructure as a result of moving the core technical equipment (ICCS) off of the Shetland Islands. MCA has no knowledge of the impact of these communications links on the mobile phone networks. In relation to telephone links in general, MCA are not aware of there having been any coincident failures of the ‘kilostream’ (private wire) infrastructure and the public telecommunications network (PSTN). As an example there have been no reported incidents of Shetland being unable to raise faults with failed BT Kilostreams. In respect of AIS (and with the RER project DSC as well) data from hilltop to server is IP, which as a protocol is inherently more tolerant of brief interruptions or slow speed as the protocol requests resends of missing or corrupt packets invisibly to the end user; However, this IP traffic is currently carried over fixed point-to-point BT Kilostream bearers into the MRCCs. Irrespective of the current consultation and any outcome thereafter, MCA hope to investigate any benefits of a move to alternative bearers for our IP traffic to make use of developments in technology since our AIS network was installed." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graeme_Storey Posted January 19, 2011 Report Share Posted January 19, 2011 ^^^.... and it is often in the worst weather that there are communications problems (lightning, snow, extreme rain, etc.) which just so happens to be the very time that emergencies also happen with people needing help at sea, heli medivacs, etc. I simply can't see any way at all that closing the Lerwick station, or even reducing the hours it is on watch, makes any sense at all. The whole thing would be a disaster actively seeking out a way to happen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northerly Posted January 19, 2011 Report Share Posted January 19, 2011 As millie already pointed out in a previous post, there have been numerous BT kilostream failures, something which the MCA refuses to acknowledge: 2009 = 15 failures of which 7 lasted more than 24hrs 2010 = 11 failures of which 5 lasted more than 24hrs Bear also in mind that our CROs (Coastguard Rescue Officers) are primarily alerted by VHF Channel 0 pager so this means that if the radio network is down, the CRO's would have to be called out individually by telephone, assuming the telephone network was not also affected. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShetlandYouthVoice Posted January 19, 2011 Report Share Posted January 19, 2011 Shetland Youth Voice has sent an open letter to MCA Chief Executive regarding their disapproval to HM Coastguard Proposals for Modernisation. We support Save Shetland Coastguard. Check the letter at: http://www.shetlandtimes.co.uk/2011/01/19/open-letter-to-mcahttp://www.shetland-news.co.uk/2011/January/letters/110119%20youth%20on%20coastguard.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egbert-Mcwhirter Posted January 19, 2011 Report Share Posted January 19, 2011 Well done Shetland Youth Voice good on you.mustaffa donut has been notable by his/her absence lately I never did get any response to the question I put twice, not that I'm surprised. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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