Click the link to download the petition . . .

BESTCoastguard petition.pdf

SHOPPERS and staff at Tesco are stacking up the signatures for our Save Our Lifesavers campaign.

Workers at the store on Portland have collected more than 300 signatures for the cause.

The Easton shop has had so many shoppers wanting to sign our petition that staff have requested more copies of the form. Rino Duvall, of the customer services desk, thought the shop should get involved.

He said: “It’s such a good cause. The coastguards do a brilliant job and with the Olympics coming next year we really need them to stay beyond that.

“The plan to axe the Portland Coastguard station is silly and doesn’t make any sense.

“We had a part-time teacher at my school who was also a coastguard and he would tell us a bit about what they do and the rescues they go on.”

Mr Duvall, of Wyke Regis, added that he was lucky he never had to call on the services of the coastguard as a youngster.

He said: “When I was younger I used to go out on the cliffs and do a bit of tombstoning.

“I was really lucky that nothing ever happened and I didn’t need the coastguard.”

Lyn Higham, who also works on the customer services desk, said the response from shoppers had been ‘fantastic’.

She said: “We’ve had different comments from everybody and people are saying: ‘If they get rid of the Coastguard then what are they going to get rid of next?’ “I think it’s so important to have the Coastguard communications here. If you keep the people here answering the calls they will know exactly where people are talking about.

“There could be someone in Southampton answering the call who doesn’t know where the landmark is that the person is talking about.”

Readers can join our campaign to call for the government to locate a Maritime Operations Centre (MOC) in Weymouth or Portland in a number of different ways including via Facebook – search for Portland Coastguard – Save Our Lifesavers or by following links from the Dorset Echo Facebook page.

The petition is available to download from the Dorset Echo website – or fill out the coupon and send it to the office at the Granby Industrial Estate in Weymouth or the Dorchester office in Antelope Walk. Readers can request a paper copy of the petition by calling Catherine Bolado on 01305 830985.