Officers have told me the Coastguard is in the grip of a bullying, controlling culture – Alistair Carmichael
Island communities will not be safe until ministers drain the swamp that is Coastguard headquarters
I do not normally speak about my family much. So it was only after some careful thought that I spoke at some length about my father in the Commons this week. I was leading a debate on the changes currently being implemented by the Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) to the way in which they compensate their volunteer coastguard rescue officers.
I wanted the minister replying to understand why this matters. I told the story of the grounding of the Fleetwood trawler Margaret Wicks in 1963.
The report filed at the time recorded it thus: “The Margaret Wicks went ashore on the Mull of Oa, a wild isolated part of Islay where there are few roads, at 3am on 8th December. Within hours, the Mull of Oa company, who live in a small isolated community about three miles away, were on the scene. Shortly afterwards the Port Ellen company arrived, having carried their life-saving gear for two miles across very rough, boggy terrain from the road where they had left their lorry.
“The trawler was hard ashore, close in under a steeply sloping cliff 250 feet high… A whip and breeches buoy was used, and within half an hour the first survivor was landed. The other 14 were brought ashore uninjured within the next hour. The Islay life-boat and HMS Hampshire were both lying off-shore, unable to help because of the rocks which surrounded the wreck.”
Pride and commitment
One of the Mull of Oa Company was my father, who will turn 95 next month and tells the story in detail and with clarity to this day. His role in that rescue is part of my family story and is a source of pride to us all over 60 years later.
The sense of pride and commitment that my father has about his work then still defines the work of coastguard volunteers today. I know from speaking to my constituents who do the same work role today.
The approach of local volunteers could not be more different from that taken by the senior management team of the MCA. Since it was announced that I would be leading a parliamentary debate on the changes, there has been a steady flow of emails into my inbox from full-time officers describing how they are treated by their senior management.
They make scary reading for those who care about safety in coastal communities.
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A worrying disease
The delivery of messages in relation to the changes is tightly and ruthlessly controlled. Officers are expected to support the changes publicly or to suffer the consequences. They have all described to me a bullying and controlling culture.
I now realise that the changes to volunteers’ conditions are only the tip of the iceberg. They are just a symptom of a much more worrying disease, namely that bullying and controlling culture.
Chances are that we shall have a new shipping minister in a few weeks’ time. Job number one for him or her has got to be draining the swamp that is now the Coastguard headquarters. Island communities will not be safe until we do that.
Alistair Carmichael is MP for Orkney and Shetland
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