Son criticises coastal safety provision after dad dies saving children

Pascoe criticised a recent decision by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) to no longer pay volunteer coastguards for emergency callouts, saying it “beggars belief”.

The decision was made after the Court of Appeal ruled that Coastguard Rescue Officers (CROs) – who are currently paid about £11 an hour – should have employee status and a right to a minimum wage because they are not unpaid volunteers.

The minimum payment for an incident is £33, even if it is resolved in less than three hours, but the MCA is to remove that payment later in the year.

The MCA said it needed to “change how the service operates” but would continue to “maintain a robust, effective search and rescue response, ensuring the highest quality of service and levels of safety”.

Pascoe said: “The coastguard is an emergency service in its own right.

“England is an island with over 7,000 miles of coastline – who is making these ridiculous decisions?

“How have we, as a country, gotten to a point where if something like this happens in future, you ring 999 and no-one is coming?”

He said he needed to grieve his father’s death but when he was ready, wanted to advocate for change.

“Why does it take brave heroes such as my dad, Wayne and Dave Short… to put themselves in mortal danger for an obvious and all too common occurrence?” he said.

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