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Equine Ramblers UK

personal locator beacons

Emails from a horse rider

Hi Jenni ?
I hope I have the name right! I wanted to comment on your mention of PLB's. I bought one while in the USA, as a precaution, for a proposed long distance ride that had to be cancelled. How ever I brought it back to the UK with me and registered it here with the relevant authority in Falmouth. I took it to Southampton to have it reset for use in the UK, as it was registered in the US. I registered it here for use when out riding in remote areas. At no point was I informed that there was a legal problem with this, the registering authority actually thought it was a good idea. So my PLB is registered here in the UK for horse riding. As opposed to sailing etc. My advice? Buy them, register them and pray you never need to use them. Better to be taken to court for using one to save a life, than to be dead.
Yours,
Sherry

Answer

Hi Sherry,
Thankyou for your email.

The Coastguard I presume is where you registered with in Falmouth. They should know better and so too should McMurdos whom I presume you got to reset your PLB. However the individuals working in these organsations may not be aware of the restriction for land use in the UK. When I first approached McMurdos I was told 'Yes I could use it on land' and then they found out that wasn't the case. That is what sparked off the campaign.

I do see your point. I have just spent a few days in the Lake district ridng the High Street with my horse. I took a GPS and maps and my husband (although he didn't ride with me he knew where I was going) so if anything did go wrong there was someone looking out for me. Also water and food. The GPS wasn't foolproof as there are so many unmarked paths up there it is easy to go wrong, which I did several times. The PLB wasn't needed but I felt it would have completed my personal safety measures.

As it turned out I came off the mountains down a very steep footpath to Hawswater. My husband knew where I intended coming down. We had mobile reception late afternoon. He did alert the Mountain Rescue (not intending them to actually come out), but they weren't needed. I met them on the Hawswater access road and was told they'd sent a team to Hayeswater as well. If I'd had a PLB and raised the alarm they would only have had to send one team out to a definite location.
Kind regards
Jenni Miller

Reply

Hi Jenni,
Yes it was with the coastguard that I registered my PLB. I can see where one would have been very useful to your on your ride. It is my intention once things are sorted better here, to ride stretches of the Cambrians and Breacon beacons. When I do embark on these rides, I intend to take my PLB with me. The same thing applies to long rides in areas such as the Brecfa forest and similar heavily forested areas. I take the view, that should the worst happen, rescue organisations will be able to find me quickly and efficently, using minimum man power and resources. Should I ever have recourse to use it......and I sincerely hope I never do, but if I do and then am prosecuted, well I will happily go to court. I do feel that groups in particular, should have at least one with them when they are in such places just as a precaution.
But who ever it was that I registered mine with, and I cannot remember who it was, I checked my paper work and it does not say, should have been aware of legislation. So too should the Maritime and Coastguard agency with whom it is registered for horse riding. But neither appears to know, or care. I bought mine as I said in the US. I would recommend every serious rider and walker have one. In terms of hours, resources and man power saved, not to mention lives.....they are invaluable. As you yourself said, mountain rescue would not have needed to send two teams.
Yours,
Sherry

Added 12th August 2009

Emails from a walker

Dear Jenni,

I would like to add my voice to your organisation's campaign to get PLBs legalised for land use in the UK.

My decision is based on experience gained whilst involved in the emergency rescue of a friend - who'd suffered a heart attack.
My companion and I were heading for Scafell Pike summit. He suddenly stopped - and I realised he was having a heart attack. I needed help quickly. No one responded to my emergency whistle...and I was unable to get a mobile signal at the site of the incident.

So,I had no alternative but to leave him - alone - and climb higher until I got a signal. Thankfully, I eventually did...the air ambulance arrived...and my companion was treated on the spot by a doctor...then flown to hospital. Thanks to the emergency services' prompt response he suffered only minor heart damage.

At the time of the incident I praised the fact that - with no one else around to help - I'd been able to call the emergency services on my mobile (even though I'm the sort of guy who makes £10 of airtime last for several years!).

When I got back home I started thinking:

If I'd been out walking alone and I'd had a heart attack I'd have been unable to climb higher in order to pick up a mobile signal.

The CROW Act means more keen walkers are heading ‘off path'to explore new terrain...so are less likely to meet fellow walkers...if they get into difficulties.

Then I read about PLBs.

Firstly their use means there is no need to litter the hills with phone masts in order to ensure you can get a signal. So, maybe organisations like The Friends of The Lake District and National Park Authoritites might be more ready to support legalisation to allow the legal use of PLBs on land?

Secondly, I believe that as you can't use them as a mobile phone it's likely that only keen walkers and horse riders will buy them.

Therefore, once triggered it's unlikely that the emergency services will turn out to find that it's not a heart attack victim they are attending - but someone who can't find the holiday cottage they've rented!!
Food for thought:

If I couldn't have got a mobile signal that day my friend might well have died. If I'd been on my own and I'd had a heart attack...well I'd probably have died.

Yes, I believe a registration system for PLBs makes sense. And as there's no subscription payment for their use (unlike sat phone) why not introduce a low cost insurance scheme to refund the costs of call-outs deemed to be frivolous by the emergency services.

A mobile phone does have the advantage of enabling one to report the victim's condition. So, does a sat phone - but that's an expensive alternative.

Until China starts using its satellite network to market sat., phones at pay-as-you-go subsription prices I believe PLBs are the answer. If China does...well the problem of frivolous call-outs will once again be top of the agenda.

Thanks for reading. I meet many riders whilst out walking in remote locations and can well understand your organisation's reasons for campaigning for the legal use of PLBs in the UK. Good luck!

Dave C

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Hi Dave,

Thank you for your words of encouragement. If you look in our forum there is a section for PLBs and an update earlier this year that we expect PLB's to be available for legal use towards the end of this year. There is also a Radio 4 interview on You and Yours you may like to listen to (see Success!).

Kind regards
Jenni Miller

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Thanks Jenni - I've taken up your suggestions...and listened to your broadcast. Sounds very positive. Well done!

Nevertheless, timescales for the implementation of such projects have a habit of slipping (I speak from personal experience). So, I will now be adding a little pressure from the walkers' perspective too!

Keep up the good work!

16th July 2009

Link to interview on BBC Radio 4 You and Yours

Click here

10th April 2009

Government response to E-Petition

We just recieved a government resonse to the e-petition and it can be viewed here
A measure of our success

29th September 2008

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Long Distance Horse Riding | Horse Friendly Accommodation

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Our Personal Locator Beacons Campaign is Supported By:

CTC supports personal locator beaconsAircraft

Legalising personal locator beacons for land use in Great Britain

Permission Glencoe Mountain Rescue  - personal locator beacons

Like a lot of people I go exploring the countryside, very often on my own on horseback and in May 2007 I was completing a long ride with a friend and fell off the horse and broke my leg. I was lucky that I wasn’t alone and also that we had mobile phone reception.

Search and rescue Framework for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland 2002

Poor reception in mountains

Permission Glencoe Mountain Rescue  - personal locator beacons

Among the mountains mobile reception is quite often un-obtainable and this impairs any prompt rescue an injured outdoor pursuiter will receive. I learned of Personal Locator Beacons from a member of Equine Ramblers UK who lives in Australia where they have been legal for use on land since 2003. The same goes for the United States of America.

On investigation I found that we could purchase them in Great Britain but could only legally use them for marine purposes, for example at sea or on land locked water and rivers. The unit has to be registered with the PLB registry and licensed for use with OFCOM. At present if you use one on land you can have the unit confiscated, be fined and even imprisoned for unlicensed use of a transmitter. My Australian friend cannot use hers when she comes to the UK.

What are personal locator beacons?

outdoors

For those who don’t know what they do…. they are about the size of a mobile phone and have a button, when pressed, that sends a GPS signal (in this country) via satellite to the coastguard. The coastguard know by this signal the exact location of the emergency and will send the emergency service straight out to it.

We want to legalise the use of PLB’s on land and help the Search and Rescue (SAR) save lives and money by finding their emergencies quicker, taking the Search out of Rescue. The misuse of PLB’s will not happen due to the cost of the unit and continuing registration of PLB’s. The penalty for misuse through the licensing would be the same as for illegal use.

This January (2007) PLB’s were legalised for use in recreational and sporting aircraft 10 minutes plus from land indicating a relaxation of these archaic rules.

Background Information on Locator Beacons

Permission Glencoe Mountain Rescue

From Peter Dymond (Chief Coastguard)

Personal Locator Beacons (PLB’s) and similarly, Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacons (EPIRB’s) used for maritime distress alerting, and Emergency Locator Transmitters (ELT’s) used for aeronautical distress alerting are radio transmitting devices which operate in the 406 MHz band for sending distress alert signals to Cospas-Sarsat satellites. The satellites relay the signals to a Ground Station and then on to the Mission Control Centre where the signal is processed for onward transmission to the Rescue Co-ordination Centre who will activate and then co-ordinate the appropriate SAR response.

The processing of the beacon signal at the Mission Control Centre determines the identity of the Beacon ie maritime or air, whom it belongs to and the location of the beacon the latter being the most important item of information.

Location is determined in two ways ie if the Beacon is fitted with GPS then the position from the GPS is included in the distress alert signal or if no GPS, then the position is determined by the Doppler techniques which is complex but in simple terms is about the movement of the satellite(s) (which are polar orbiting) in relation to the stationary beacon. Many Beacons also transmit a homing signal which help eg SAR helicopters, to home in on the beacon when approaching the position given by the Rescue Co-ordination Centre.

Air Ambulance statistics supplied by Shropshire and West Midlands

MISSIONS COMPLETED BY COUNTY

24th May 1991 – 31st August 2007

West Midlands 3496
Staffordshire 4673
Herefordshire &Worcestershire 5139
Shropshire 2815
Warwickshire 1241
Powys 498
Gloucestershire 3258
East Midlands 373
Other Services 95

Total Incidents 24952

These figures do not cover the Mountain rescue where air ambulance was not required or couldn’t be used

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