Oscar Charlie meat run
NORTHERN isles MSPs Tavish Scott and Liam McArthur have added their signatures to a growing campaign calling for a coastguard helicopter pilot to be reinstated.
The unnamed pilot was suspended by his employer CHC last week after the search and rescue chopper stopped off in Orkney during a training exercise to collect meat from Craigie’s Butcher.
More than 1,500 people have since then signed an e-petition at: www.ipetitions.com/petition/save-the-shetland-coastguards-pilots-job/signatures
Mr McArthur said there was a danger of heavy-handedness from the company.
“The right thing to do now would be for CHC and the coastguard agency to confirm that the pilot is being re-instated without delay. The longer this drags on, the greater the damage to the reputation of CHC and the coastguard agency,” he said.
Mr Scott added: “Oscar Charlie’s crew put their lives on the line in rescue after rescue in the worst of the weather. So collecting Orkney beef from an Orkney butcher is in no way a hanging offence.
“The coastguard agency wasted millions trying to close the Lerwick coastguard station. If anyone should be suspended it is the people who came up with that bad and dangerous idea.”
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