 No love for Scottish MRTs from Goodyear? Oh well, I use Michelin anyway...
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 You having a bad day or something, Fraser?  I thought it was a good news story myself and had to look pretty hard to find what you were talking about. I understand now but talk about focussing on the negative!
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 It's Michelins for me from now on as well.
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 They are only supporting England & Wales MRTs, not Scottish ones. Hence Fraser's comment.
It's a good story but the free publicity that Goodyear will receive will recoup any outlay they've made. Has anyone else noticed the "Pirelli" stickers on the wheel arches of that Land Rover?
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Sorry, I thought my name was Scottish enough to negate further explaination. Yes, good news for England and Wales. It's Goodyear's money and they can do what they like with it, but I can't help but wonder about the thought process behind the decision to exclude the Scottish teams.
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Could it be because there is a Michelin factory in Dundee?
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I guess it's called devolution. That'll teach you!
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 Don't Scottish MRTs receive money from the Scottish Exec? I understood that the English teams don't get anything from Westminster, and the Welsh ones don't from Cardiff Bay, so perhaps Goodyear, who appear to have their HQ in Birmingham, are helping the teams that don't receive any state funding?
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State funding (me) is not the same as a gift. I'm baffled as to why there is so many MRT's south of the border any way. All you need is one in the Lakes, and one in North Wales. Surely the rest should be called Rescue silly and lost people off bumps, Teams.
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| Edited: 27/11/08 14:27 |
The lowland teams also do a lot work that the police can't do very well, e.g. looking for missing persons on the pennine moors etc.
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The lowland teams also do a lot work that the police can't do very well, e.g. looking for missing persons on the pennine moors etc.
Rescue silly and lost people off bumps, Teams.
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 But what about the 'Fenland Mountain Rescue Team' in East Anglia? They really exist, not to rescue anyone, but to raise money!
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Some of the English and Welsh MR teams are involved in rescues of climbers and cavers. We do have crags in England and Wales (some of them are small, but high enough to hurt yourself on) and there are more caves in England and in Wales than in Scotland.
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 One team for North Wales, one for the Lakes... are you serious Mike?
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.... we need one for Leeds too, for the poor people that have fallen into the pot-holes.
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 Some of the teams in Scotland are Police Teams paid by the taxpayers and incur overtime payements and call-out payments where appropriate. They are augmented by local teams, for instance Grampian Police use Aberdeen MRT and Braemar MRT who are volunteers. Tayside Police who also have a Team have several small MR Teams they rely on. Obviously the Police Teams do not require any support because they get that from the taxpayer (which some people arent' aware of). It is the volumteer teams that need support. Those that have been watching Highland Emergency on Channel 5, at the moment on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings will see how the military are used, again at a cost to the tax payer, to rescue climbers and hill walkers and the occasional medical emergency in Scotland and the Lake District. (I never knew till this programme started that the Lake District was in the Highlands!!). So my point is that a lot of tax payers money is already used in Mountain Rescues, not that I'm saying that the volunteer teams don't need help, well cash.
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 Bloody hell Lindsay - MRT funded by the taxpayer.... it's a good job this year's OMM was south of the border then or the press would have had (even more of) a field day!  I wonder, do the helicopters that service the Lake district fly from a Scottish base? That might explain their inclusion in the programme?
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Matt yes the TV Programme shows the RAF flying out of Lossiemouth and the Navy from Prestwick. They also show the Coastguard heli from Stornoway. I just thought the name of the programme was a bit inappropriate as it covers other areas outwith the Highlands, for instance the Lake District. There is occasionally other bits and pieces including the Air Ambulance from Aberdeen but mainly it is rescues or medical emergencies in the remoter parts of Scotland.
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| Edited: 27/11/08 16:18 |
The very word Mountain means that climbing expertise is needed. Missing people on flat land is a police matter. If volounteers want to help in the search, that's great. Maybe they should be called police auxilliaries though, and rightly funded through the police budget.
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Mike I suspect that the Police use MRT's for searching for missing persons, outwith mountain areas, not just for their skills, but because their free and it boosts the search team numbers. I doubt if the Police would admit this but everyone hopes to get something on the cheap or even free.
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