Cave & Mine Rescue

alasdair neill

New member
Yet again the Devon & Cornwall Police have shown their procedures are totally incapable of handling cave resue callouts! (rescue from Prid last week). On numerous occasions they have assured DCRO they now have got the correct procedures in place, but this saga has been going on for 30 years plus so my personal view is whatever they do they will continue to get it wrong.

Personally I would therefore suggest anyone caving in the area makes sure they have contacts for key DCRO personel & contact them rather than go through the "correct" 999 procedure, or at least contact DCRO direct as well.

please note the above is my personal suggestion, & is not any policy of DCRO's or the Police.

At least in Devon there are enough call outs to show the system doesn't work, I'd hate to see what happened in Cornwall if there was ever a serious need for a call out
 

gus horsley

New member
As far as I'm aware the rescue system in Cornwall has collapsed but perhaps someone somewhere would care to tell me otherwise.  It's been this way for some time now.
 

Andy Sparrow

Active member
alasdair neill said:
Yet again the Devon & Cornwall Police have shown their procedures are totally incapable of handling cave resue callouts! (rescue from Prid last week). On numerous occasions they have assured DCRO they now have got the correct procedures in place, but this saga has been going on for 30 years plus so my personal view is whatever they do they will continue to get it wrong.

Personally I would therefore suggest anyone caving in the area makes sure they have contacts for key DCRO personel & contact them rather than go through the "correct" 999 procedure, or at least contact DCRO direct as well.

please note the above is my personal suggestion, & is not any policy of DCRO's or the Police.

At least in Devon there are enough call outs to show the system doesn't work, I'd hate to see what happened in Cornwall if there was ever a serious need for a call out

So what was the incident in the cave?  And who carried out the rescue?
 

Ship-badger

Member
If you call the cave rescue team in person, rather than through the 999 system, then I believe that the team will not be covered by insurance. We have had this discussion within GCRG, and that was our conclusion.
It will be better for all concerned if you can sort out the problems you sre having with the Police/Fiure and Rescue service.
We have had some problems up here in Gloucestershire, but we do seem to be making progress.
Keep at it.
Good luck.
 

Rhys

Moderator
Ship-badger said:
If you call the cave rescue team in person, rather than through the 999 system, then I believe that the team will not be covered by insurance. We have had this discussion within GCRG, and that was our conclusion.

Not true. The team just need to inform the Police that they're taking action (or ask permission to take action, if you like). That's how it works on almost every shout at Penwyllt/OFD.

Rhys
 

barrabus

New member
Rhys said:
Ship-badger said:
If you call the cave rescue team in person, rather than through the 999 system, then I believe that the team will not be covered by insurance. We have had this discussion within GCRG, and that was our conclusion.

Not true. The team just need to inform the Police that they're taking action (or ask permission to take action, if you like).

It's the same in Yorkshire: if the CRO receive information of an incident from the public the Police are called to be made aware of the incident and have it logged for insurance purposes.
 

gus horsley

New member
In Cornwall the whole setup became very political and fragmented.  I think the fire brigade are currently covering rescues.  I was in contact with several individuals up to a couple of years ago but they seeem to have dropped off the radar.  Unfortunately I'm not in a position to be able to resurrect it.
 

alasdair neill

New member
To reply to Andy, the incident involved an experienced caver leading a group from the school he teaches at. As I understand it, (I was out on a boat so didn't get the call out till too late), a pupil pulled his assistant off a climb & the teacher landed on & fractured his leg. The police called the Fire Brigade who fairly quickly called out Devon CRO, then continued to deal with the incident, so it became a joint effort.
 
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