Coastguard? Dial 999

Earlier this week we had a message via our Facebook page from a lady concerned that a boat in the bay may have been on fire.

 

We don't monitor Facebook 24/7 whereas the UK Coastguard Operations Centre is manned day and night, 365 days of the year, but fortunately we did happen to see this message come in so we wrote straight back asking the lady to contact the Operations Centre on 999 to give full details.
The normal route is for them to then task us by pager or phone if they want us to respond.

 

All the same, we spoke to the cox'n at the Lifeboat Station where there is a better view to sea and contacted the Ops Centre  as well.  The Ops Centre  located the vessel on AIS and gave it a call to check all was well - turns out they'd just started their engines which were just a bit smoky when cold and there was nothing to worry about.

 

The lifeboat cox'n sent us a photo through their binoculars of the vessel in question.

 

 

With all loose ends tied up, we stood down and recorded a FAWGI - false alarm with good intent, and we'd like thank the member of public for raising the alarm.

 

However, please, in an emergency or if you see someone in trouble, or who appears to be in trouble on the coast or at sea,  you should always call HM Coastguard on 999.

  

Facebook is good - but it's not a substitute for 999.