SOUTH Dorset MP Jim Knight pledged to join the fight to save Portland's search and rescue helicopter after a campaigner handed him a petition.

The MP was at Custom House Quay, Weymouth, for a tour of coastguard facilities when Maria Wakeley presented him with the list of signatures opposing the helicopter's proposed removal or transfer to Lee-On-Solent in Hampshire.

Mrs Wakeley, a veteran campaigner who lives in Weymouth, said: "I gave Jim Knight more than 100 signatures."

Mrs Wakeley, who works in a guest house, vowed to continue her petition.

She added: "Mr Knight requested that all the petitions go to him in future, and I will carry on collecting signatures because I am determined we will not lose our helicopter. Every day a diver or a small child needs it to save them from the sea, and my petition shows the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) what a massive amount of public support we have backing this campaign."

Jim Knight also met with coastguards at Osprey Quay, Portland, for a briefing on the island-based aircraft, and pilots later flew him to Poole Harbour and back.

Mr Knight said: "I salute the work that Mrs Wakeley is doing with others in the campaign to keep the helicopter and will work with everybody as closely as I can."

A spokesman for the MCA said no announcement could be made at the present time.