Privatising search and rescue helicopter services and police budget cuts threaten Scotland’s “world class” mountain rescue teams, it has been claimed.
Lochaber Mountain Rescue, Scotland’s busiest rescue team, said creating a single, national police service could lead to vital funds being diverted away from remote rescue teams.
They warned the switch to a private company operating the country’s search-and-rescue helicopter service will also complicate their work.
Bristow Helicopters take over responsibility for search and rescue missions, which have been carried out by the RAF and the Royal Navy for decades, on April 1.
In a Facebook post, which has now been shared more than 2,000 times, team leader John Stevenson and his deputy Donald Patterson warned that funding pressures could harm their ability to response to such incidents in the future.
“In Scotland, we have a world class mountain rescue service which is on par (if not better) than some of the professional rescue services elsewhere in the world, delivered at a minimal cost to the taxpayer which provides a service for one of the largest participant sports in the UK,” they wrote.
“We are seeing major challenges to mountain rescue, particularly in the Highlands, with the introduction of a single police force and the privatisation of the search and rescue helicopter service, which is making our role more complicated than it need be.
“We are also concerned about potential dilution of funds, which were originally being earmarked for mountain rescue, being diverted to other areas which are not technically mountain rescue albeit as important.
“With the police having to make budget savings, there is a risk that some of the roles they have traditionally covered being farmed out to mountain rescue teams, particularly in the Lowland setting, which is putting the allocation for the teams that operate in the remote mountainous regions at risk.”
Scottish Mountain Rescue chairman Simon Steer said all teams are feeling the strain of tightening budgets.
He added: “The real big issue is that we are dealing with more and more rescues.”
The new helicopter search and rescue teams will be aware they have a “lot to live up to” once they replace the RAF and Royal Navy, he concluded.