Should people pay insurance to go walking in the Lakes?
Last updated 11:37, Saturday, 02 August 2008
The fells and valleys of Cumbria are one of the county’s greatest assets – and one of its greatest dangers. Every year thousands of people venture onto them in search of some of the most stunning views in England.
And every year hundreds get into trouble and rely on services such as air ambulance and mountain rescue to bring them to safety.
But the costs these services face are soaring. And since both are charities, they don’t receive money from the Government and rely entirely on public donations for their funds.
So is it time for those who use their services to cough up?
Just as all motorists need car insurance, and holidaymakers need holiday insurance, should walkers and climbers have to take out their own insurance to cover the cost of their rescue?
Would it solve the cashflow problems these services face, if they could claim back the costs from insurance companies?
The Great North Air Ambulance Service operates three helicopters in the north of England. Their largest and fastest aircraft is the Pride of Cumbria, based in Carlisle.
Their helicopters carry out rescues in the fells and also attend some road accidents. But finance director Paul Atkinson said the cost of doing so was very steep.
“It cost us £3.6million last year to run our three aircraft. It works out that we spend an average of £2,500 per job.”
Yet as a charity, none of the Great North Air Ambulance’s money comes from the Government. Charity boxes, sponsored events, its own lottery and increasingly legacies are its main sources of funding.
The same applies to the county’s mountain rescue teams.
There are 12 of them in all, providing coverage 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
None of their staff are paid. All have other jobs – but are ready to drop everything if climbers or walkers need their help.
Yet running each team can cost between £25,000 and £75,000 per year, depending on how often they are called upon.
And it’s not going to get any cheaper for either the air ambulance or mountain rescue. Fuel costs and demand for the services are both increasing fast.
“Jet fuel has doubled in price since November 2006,” Mr Atkinson said. “Last year we spent £126,000 on jet fuel and this year we are looking at £200,000.
“It used to cost about 35p per litre and now you can pay between 60p and 80p. It’s close to 80p in Carlisle.”
The mountain rescue teams are covered by an umbrella organisation called the Lake District Search and Mountain Rescue Association. Its chairman Richard Warren said demand for their services was on the rise, pushing up the costs for the busiest teams.
He said: “In the Lake District in 2006 there were 395 incidents dealt with by mountain rescue teams, and in 2007 it went up to 425. That’s quite a significant increase.
“The Wasdale team saw an increase of nearly 50 per cent.”
He explained: “TV programmes like Britain’s Favourite View have brought more people out, or they are being encouraged to be more active and take part in events such as the Three Peaks Challenge.”
Technology, he said, also led to more call-outs, as climbers went equipped with mobile phones, allowing them to call mountain rescue when they wanted.
Mountain rescue teams are alerted by dialling 999, so many people wrongly assume that they are a statutory service similar to the police, fire, ambulance and coastguard services, funded by taxes.
“People don’t realise that we are all volunteers with other jobs.” Mr Warren said. “They think we are sitting at the bottom of a valley drinking cups of tea and waiting for our pagers to go. But none of us are paid. We are 100 per cent voluntary.”
So if demand and costs are both going up, what can be done about it?
Is it unreasonable to ask walkers and climbers to take out insurance to cover the costs?
Many other people involved in dangerous activities such as scuba diving have to be insured. And venturing into the Cumbrian hills can be dangerous.
If someone needs rescued because they ventured out without the right equipment, skills or experience, then they are responsible for costing these services money.
Recently there have been calls in some quarters for the ambulance service to claim money from the insurance companies of motorists whose dangerous driving causes road crashes.
In the USA insurance companies are often billed in such circumstances.
Mr Atkinson accepted the logic of this.
“I play golf and I am insured for that,” he said. “If you have a hobby that’s potentially dangerous you should be insured. Going out walking on the fells can be risky.”
But he said it was a path they were reluctant to take.
“Do we want to save lives or do we want to make money from insurance companies? We want to save lives. We are a charity.”
However he also warned that it was impossible to tell what might have to happen in future. He said: “There is a school of thought asking: ‘Why don’t you charge people?’.
“It’s something that may be visited if things get really tight.
“It’s not on our agenda at the moment. But it is at the back of a lot of people’s minds.”
Mr Warren remained reluctant. Once payment was involved, he said, mountain rescue teams would have to conform to the rules and regulations on working times and health and safety that other commercial bodies face.
“If money comes in, then the regulations would come in and the costs to mountain rescue teams of meeting them would go through the roof.
“We want to keep it as a free service as the best way forward, and rely on people’s generosity to keep it going.”
Walkers themselves may also be unwilling to take out insurance – especially if all they are doing is walking the dog.
Peter Jones, area secretary of the Lake District Ramblers, said it was not an issue the group had discussed and said: “I don’t know anyone who has insurance of that kind.”
Giving his personal view, he added: “Experienced people are much less likely to be in trouble than those with less experience, and there’s a lot of experience among those who live in this area.
“And I don’t know how you could force people to have insurance – build a big fence around the fells? It would be completely impractical.”
So what can be done to stop the costs for these organisations spiralling further? The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) agreed with Mr Jones that prevention was better than cure.
Spokeswoman Jo Stagg said: “Insurance should be secondary to having the appropriate equipment and skills when you are out on the hills, and knowing your limits.
“But we wouldn’t want there to be any barriers to enjoying the countryside.”
To Mr Warren, education was also the answer.
“What we’re trying to do is to make people responsible for their own actions when they go up on the mountains, and not just rely on us being able to drop everything and come,” he said.
“The mountains are there to be enjoyed by everybody. If they make the right preparations and take the right equipment they will have a great day.”
