Call in the Navy

                                              Time to Call in the Navy


Dan Snow did us all proud today with his fleet of Ribs carrying stranded passengers from Calais home to Dover. Individual initiative at it best until sadly stopped in its tracks by over zealous French Police.

It may not yet have taken on the mantle of a 2nd Dunkirk floatilla but The Government’s Emergency Committee COBRA needs to give it its full blessing and launch the Navy alongside Dan’s Ribs to rescue our folks stranded across the globe without further delay.

With no end in sight to our planes being grounded and Ash continuing to pour forth from Iceland’s Volcano, rescuing passengers stranded abroad must now be the Government’s No.1 priority, no matter how much Ministers and officials are otherwise engaged with the Election Campaign.
The Government should therefore immediately call up the Naval Reserve and place every available frigate, minesweeper, fishery protection vessel, tug boat, and RHIBS at the disposal of rescuing our people across the globe from France, to Majorca, from the Caribean to Australia & New Zealand.
Bringing home stranded holiday makers across the Channel from Calais by Ribs is one thing, having them stranded across Europe and beyond for days if not weeks on end penniless and in despair unable to fly home is quite another. Well beyond the capabilities of even P&O ferries or Eurostar to cope with.
And with the Port of Dover bursting at the seams to cope with the recent surge in ferry passengers the case for opening up Folkestone’s Harbour once more to passengers for the continent or as a base for any Naval Rescue becomes more overwhelming by the day. Something I shall be pressing upon Gordon and The Secretary of State for Transport at the first opportunity.


                                       Donald Worsley Sunday 18th April 2010