Lies, damned lies and statistics as someone once put it. I think you will find on close scrutiny (if your source is DASA) that when they say "23% of UK SAR callouts are coastal" they actually mean "23% of UK (Military) SAR (Helicopter) callouts are coastal". Their figures are based on the 8 military SAR helicopter bases and do not include the 4 MCA/CHC bases which are usually tagged on at the end of the report in a different format.
However, given the time of year, perhaps we should be charitable to Mr West when he refers to Britain's coastal rescue business. Most of the UK SAR helicopters bases are located on the coast or within a mile or two of it - and the remainder are not very far inland. Mr West is, therefore, geographically correct when he talks of Britain's
coastal rescue business. I am led to believe that nearly all the existing bases will remain exactly where they are post 2012 so it looks like we will continue to have a coastal rescue business for some years to come
