A CAVER who owes his life to the coastguard stresses new plans to change the emergency service would ‘put lives at risk’.

Experienced caver and sailor Andy Harding, 58, of Malvern Terrace in Weymouth, went caving just before Christmas in 1991 on Portland with his friend Stephen Hackett, 61.

They became trapped down the caving system and were rescued by coastguards and Mendip Cave Rescue.

Mr Hackett, who was featured on the front page of the Echo at the time, said that the only way they were rescued and are still alive today was because Portland coastguards had knowledge about the area.

He said: “We told our wives where were going and they called the coastguard. Luckily one of the coastguards knew that cavers often used a certain car park on Portland and after they found our cars they started searching for us.

“It took that one person with the local knowledge to know where to look for us. I just get the sneaky feeling that if the coastguard staff weren’t local then that vital bit of knowledge might have been missed.

“That knowledge wasn’t written down and if they moved to Southampton that information could be lost.”

He added: “The current coastguard method has been tested and it works. The new method hasn’t been tested and it’s putting people’s lives at risk while they are testing it out.

“I think the changes are completely down to money and at the meeting the other week I though they failed to delivery any convincing arguments to change the system.”

Mr Harding said that he didn’t want to see people in Weymouth and Portland lose their jobs.

He said: “The local ties between the coastguard and community are really strong. You feel there are people that know the area like the back of their hand.”

The pair went down the caving system called Sharbutt’s Rift in the West Cliff area of Portland, which involves an 80ft drop down a ‘chimney’ in the rock and then a squeeze though narrow tunnels, some as narrow as two feet wide, to get out of the bottom and reach Chesil Cove.

When the pair got down to the bottom they realised there had been a rock fall and they could not find the entrance to the correct passage which would lead them out.

Even after nine years Mr Harding said that seeing the rescue teams flash lights coming to find them was a huge relief.

He said: “We were trapped there after nine hours. It was so freezing cold that we couldn’t speak. It was extremely frightening, basically we thought we might have had it.”

He added: “When we saw flash lights down the passage we knew we would be all right. The coastguards got the cave rescue team to find a way through and they guided us down and through the system.”

Mr Harding wanted to thank the coastguards again for saving his life.

• The coastguard consultation period has been extended until May 5. To have your say on the plans visit the Maritime and Coastguard Agency website at mcga.gov.uk

• Have you been saved by the coastguard? If you would like to tell your story and say thank you call Catherine Bolado on or email catherine.bolado@dorsetecho .co.uk