Guernsey Press

Joint control centre is 'a risk to lives at sea'

LIVES will be put at risk when Guernsey Coastguard calls are routed to the Joint Emergency Services Control Centre at the police station next month, according to the St Peter Port lifeboat station's operational team.

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Lifeboat operations manager and former harbour master, Captain Peter Gill, said that while there were many benefits associated with a joint centre, they applied almost exclusively to the blue light services, who were used to working together on a daily basis, and were far less relevant to the Coastguard.

In a letter on the team's behalf to Public Services minister Scott Ogier, Captain Gill said that while incoming calls might be properly managed as a call centre, the ability to deliver a proper coastguard response was a separate specific competence. The move will be a backward step and lives would undoubtedly be put at risk.

JESCC staff will have less time to provide coastguard coverage and, crucially, no opportunity to maintain an appropriate level of local knowledge.

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