17:44 Wednesday 5th June 2013
Drive BBC Radio Cambridgeshire
CHRIS MANN: David Cameron has paid tribute to Sufolk’s volunteer coastguards, who rescued more than fifty people during a charity swim that went wrong. Organisers have apologised for going ahead with Southwold’s Pier to Pier swim nearly a fortnight ago, when more than a hundred and thirty swimmers ended up getting into difficulty. Therese Coffey the Conservative MP for Suffolk Coastal, thanked the rescuers during Prime Minister’s Questions. (TAPE)
THERESE COFFEY: The weekend before last Mr Speaker there was a community swim off the coast of Southwold, which actually could have become a tragedy, were it not for the brave efforts of our emergency services, and in particular the volunteer coastguards and the RNLI. Can the Prime Minister My Right Honourable Friend join with me in thanking our volunteer coastguards, and in particular helmsman Simon Callaghan, crewmen Paul Barker and Rob Kelsey, in pulling out fifty six people from the water and averting a tragedy. (LIVE)
CHRIS MANN: David Cameron agreed. (TAPE)
DAVID CAMERON: I certainly join the Honourable Lady that the Royal National Lifeboat Association do an extraordinary job for our country. They are really one of our emergency services and should be treated as such. And I think she’s absolutely right to raise this case, and I join her in paying tribute to those brave people.
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