MCA to close its South Shields Office

[John Arton]

The U.K. MCA is reducing its number of offices and one ear marked for closure is the Tyneside Office in South Shields.
This means that along with the reduction in inspections of unsafe vessels visiting North East ports, any new entrants to the Merchant Navy from the surrounding areas will have to travel long distances to obtain there discharge books, licences etc. and it will also have a direct impact on the Marine College as again its students will have to travel long distances to sit oral exams etc.
To this end in a fit of temper I have started a petition on change.org at the link below to try and change the MCA's mind. Reduction in number of their already small number of offices will put the U.K. shores at greater risk from unsafe vessels.
The petition can (I hope) be signed at the following link, it is also on Facebook.
https://www.change.org/p/katy-ware-p...the-north-east
Don't suppose I will have any luck but you never know.
rgds
JA

[vic mcclymont]

Signed

[Ivan Cloherty]

Signed

[John Albert Evans]

Signed

[cappy]

signed cappy

[Captain Kong]

Signed.
Brian

[Gulliver]

Signed

[Trader]

Signed

Alec Sheldon.

[Charlie Hannah]

Signed

[j.sabourn]

I wonder if that Indian Doctor employed by the BSF carried on working there. He was I am sure the same as others told to get rid of seafarers through natural causes hence him failing me on an eye test which I had never failed in the past, but as could not read correctly the bottom line on the card which don't think most could in any case, however I went and bought glasses and went back and read his bottom line through a pair of near binoculars. The next thing they came up with was they could not supply any work, so I said up you took my redundancy of 1300 pounds for 32 years and went foreign again. If there is a shortage of seafarers today they and the government sponsored BSF deserve all they get. The usual short sightedness of previous and todays governments astounds me at times. A few years ago I queried any BSF worker on what redundancies they got for sitting on their backsides and sending others to work, there has always been a deathly hush on the subject. JWS