Coastguard closures - the storms ahead

Anyone living by the sea knows the coast is especially dangerous when it's dark.

And the Coastguard has men and women with a fine tradition of offering that protection.

Staff at Portland were said to be 'shaking with anger' after hearing this morning's news dismantling the current service.

At the moment there are 18 stations. Under the proposals there will be just three 24-hour operational centres - at Aberdeen, in the Southampton/Portsmouth area (perhaps Lee-on-the-Solent) and at Dover.

There will be five sub-centres open solely during daylight hours - at Swansea, at Falmouth in Cornwall, at Humber in Yorkshire and at either Belfast or Liverpool and at either Stornoway or Shetland in the Scottish islands.

Shipping Minister Mike Penning explained the changes saying:

"The Coastguard has a long and distinguished history. But in
common with all public services it cannot stand still.

"Our seas are becoming busier, with larger ships and increasing numbers of
offshore renewable energy platforms making key areas of our seas more congested.
There are also increasing numbers of people using our beaches, coastlines and
seas for leisure activities.

"The current organisation of the Coastguard - which dates back
some 40 years - is not well placed to respond to these challenges. The lack of
national co-ordination between the centres can result in limited resilience and
an uneven distribution of the workload, especially during busy periods."

There's been a running industrial dispute at the Coastguard Agency over pay.

Some earn as little as £13,500 and see themselves as the poor relations of the emergency services.

But at Portland today staff said they had heard rumours of the planned closures but nothing more until today. They were said to be "just milling around the office in shock."

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