Richard Drax, MP for South Dorset, has written to Secretary of State for Transport Justine Greening, after a recent weekend where the Portland search and rescue helicopter was called out eight times on one day.
The helicopter is due to be axed in 2018 by Greening’s department, due to budget cuts.
“Our helicopter played a vital role, having its busiest day ever on Saturday, July 7th, responding to eight emergencies, a record since its inception in 1995,” wrote Drax.
Listing five of the eight rescues, ranging from a family stuck in their car in ever rising flood waters to a man with chest pains airlifted over flooding to a waiting ambulance, Drax wrote, “they highlight how important our airborne asset is and, more importantly, the only one appropriate for the task in hand.”
Noting that many, if not most of the call outs were outside South Dorset boundaries, Drax said, “This is not just a constituency matter and these incidents highlight that. The helicopter serves hundreds of thousands of people and, on occasions, literally saves their lives.”
Referring to the Department of Transport’s assumption that other helicopters would be available to make up for the absence of Portland helicopter in future, Drax wrote, “because the downpours were so widespread the other helicopters upon which your new, SAR cover will so heavily rely, were also fully tasked.”
Drax also pointed out that the aggregate cost of eight potential deaths, according to DfT figures, would be £14m at the rate of £1.75m per fatality.
“This is about three times the cost of keeping the Portland helicopter base open for one year – currently circa £5m (MCA accounts).”
“I repeat, the £14m represents just ONE day’s work. This figure increases dramatically when you take into account the other lives saved by our helicopter…the figures simply don’t stack up.”
Since sending the letter, Drax has also commented on a trawler, which sank in Lyme Bay early yesterday morning after its nets snagged catastrophically on the sea bed. The crew were air lifted off the dive boat by the Portland helicopter and were described as ‘lucky to be alive.’.
“The skipper of the dive boat which rescued them, described the plans to close the Portland helicopter as ‘ridiculous,” says Drax. “I can only agree with him”