Radios Bill may scupper the RNLI

Yet another crazy plan from our money-grabbing government of the day - this one affects everyone who gets into to sea off the UK!

Following a somewhat concerning conversation with one of my local Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) volunteers at the weekend I checked up on what he'd told me:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/308...s-to-close.html

(For our overseas contributors can I explain that the RNLI is 100% funded by charity, not one penny comes from our Government).

The background:

LIFEBOAT crews fear being scuppered by crippling new charges for using their radios from Ofcom, the communications regulator. The RNLI could see the price of using its VHF emergency frequencies rise to £250,000 under plans to charge the full commercial rate.

The charity, which saves hundreds of lives every year currently pays an annual £48,000 at a discounted rate of 50 per cent. It relies on donations and fears the move will have a disastrous impact on fundraising. Peter Bradley, RNLI operations staff officer, said: "It's a lot of money when you think in terms of lifeboat days and little old ladies collecting pound coins."

"We could buy several inshore lifeboats for the same amount."

"The Government rely on us to provide this search-and-rescue service, at a cost of £124 million a year, but they want to charge us for doing it!"

Ofcom has set out plans to bring "market forces" into maritime and civil aviation communications in a policy it calls Administered Incentive Pricing.

£250,000 represents an awful lot of charity collections, even more so in the current economic climate. I have spent many hours, stood in the cold & rain, with a 'please donate' container to collect monies from the public and I'm bloody angry to think that over £200,000 of what volunteers have raised is going to be taken away every year.

So, if like me you feel strongly enough about this, please sign the petition below to let OUR government know - please note the petition is only open to UK residents:

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/RNLI-RF-licences/

Thanks for reading.

R

We had a similar situation here in Canada in the mid to late 1990s with the creation of NavCanada which was handed the task of providing aviation flight services to the flying public traversing Canada's airspace.

A significant increase in fees for current and proposed services threatened to reek havoc with the viability of general aviation in Canada.

Only with very strong representation by C.O.P.A. (Canadian Owners and Pilots Association), and other organizations, did the government and NavCanada, provide a significant discount for their services to the General Aviation pilot (i.e. private pilots, recreational flyers, bush pilots, and mom and pop flying operation).

You mention RNLI receives no government funding for the valuable services it provides. Make sure you remind government of this fact when it's your turn to plead your case. You may want to cast a big net here by campaigning for direct government subsidies to assist your volunteers in their duties, because of the proposed fees. Hopefully government will realize what a good bargain the are getting and back off from any planned increases and/or new fees.

Talking to other organizations that have been involved in similar circumstances can also provide rare insights that are not readily apparent to an organization experiencing difficulties like this for the first time.

Your organization may wish to consider a private radio service provider for your communication services.

As a last resort you may want to talk to amateur radio enthusiasts (HAM Radio operators) about forming some sort of partnership to workaround the planned fees. I'm sure they would jump at the chance to provide their services if it is technically feasible.

Good luck, hope everything goes well for RNLI and the planned fee increases.

The RNLI doesn't ask for your passport before launching to rescue you.

If you can't sign the electronic petition because you are not British, why not email Gordon Brown and ask why the government are doing this? After all, we do have dive sites that you may wish to visit (apparently, Scapa Flow, the Farne Islands and the waters off Plymouth are our favourites)!

Tim