Coastguard unit resigns en masse after leader sacked

The walk-out has left some of the most dangerous shoreline in Scotland with reduced cover, although Coastguard chiefs said they would call in other staff if necessary.

Station officer Murdo Morrison helped to form the volunteer Coastguard unit at Ness, on the north of Lewis in the Western Isles, 24 years ago.

But the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) said he had contravened health and safety rules on a number of occasions and had to be disciplined.

He was told of his sacking after co-ordinating a search

sparked by the discovery of an empty canoe at Bragar on Lewis. Joe McTaggart, 60, and his son, Daniel, 12, were found to have died.

When Mr Morrison got home after midnight, a full-time Coastguard official was waiting with a letter of dismissal.

The move has prompted all 11 of his colleagues to resign.

The sacking decision was not related to the search - the MCA had earlier decided to get rid of Mr Morrison, but he then went on leave and officials chose to wait until he returned to give him the letter of dismissal.

As he was involved in the search for the McTaggarts on his first day back at the end of June, the agency said it had to wait until he ended his shift before telling him.

An MCA spokesman admitted that the letter's timing had been "terrible".

But he went on: "The letter went to Mr Morrison after a series of meetings and exercises to try to tease out custom and practice of how people operate within the teams."

He said there had been "a number of incidents over a period of time" that had caused them concern over Mr Morrison, who is a retained firefighter.

"At the end of the day, we do not want dead heroes," said the spokesman, who confirmed the whole cliff rescue unit had been stood down by the MCA.

"We are disappointed and saddened it has come to this. We have tried to work with Murdo to iron out the difficulties but for us now, Murdo is history."

He went on: "We had indications that four or five [of his colleagues] would not continue - so there were insufficient numbers to continue with carrying out cliff rescue.

"There were some who have indicated they will continue and they will be used on visual searches, etc."

The MCA denied that lives would be put at risk by the Lewis walk-out. It said other units would be drafted in if necessary, and there would also be cover from the island's search and rescue helicopter.

It is believed that the long-serving Mr Morrison had been warned in the past about the MCA's concerns relating to health and safety practices, and a series of informal meetings had been held with senior officials regarding them. The spokesman would not specify what those health and safety concerns had been, but said they involved Mr Morrison's "methodology" of working.

"In the end it was his way or the highway, and he chose not to work within the same framework as everybody else," he said.