Campaigners plead for emergency tugs to be given stay of execution

CAMPAIGNERS want the UK government to delay the withdrawal of emergency tugs from around the coast by six months to find alternative cover.

The four emergency towing vessels (ETVs) are to be axed in September to cut costs.

But Highland Council leader Dr Michael Foxley, who is also chairman of the ETV Task Group, said the decision to withdraw the tugs without alternative arrangements was "precipitous and carries enormous risks".

He said it was a gamble that threatened considerable "financial, environmental, commercial and reputational damage".

He is calling for the ETV contract to be extended to examine how a new arrangement could be organised and funded.

Dr Foxley said he believed the Ministry of Defence had not been consulted on the issue, despite the navy carrying out manoeuvres in all the areas covered by the tugs.

The task group set up to identify funding to help the Department for Transport (DfT) retain the ETVs suggests other agencies could help with the bill.

A DfT spokeswoman said: "The reality is that since their introduction in the 1990s, these tugs have attended very few incidents. Should a ship get into difficulty, we are confident the commercial salvage sector is prepared to offer assistance."

Last November one of the tugs, the Anglian Prince, was contracted by the navy to help free its 1 billion submarine HMS Astute, which grounded off Skye.