Rescue heroes take on taxman

DEBT of gratitude... Saddleworth Rotary Club president Malcolm Hill (right) presents OMRT treasurer Peter Hyde with £2,000, watched by the club’s vice-president Lawrence Perrins and treasurer Peter Mallinson

‘We can’t get a measly few quid VAT relief on our kit to save lives’

THE Government is being urged to give financial help to lifesavers after it emerged a cash windfall to Oldham’s snow heroes could be wiped out by VAT.

Saddleworth Rotary Club presented Oldham Mountain Rescue Team (OMRT) with £2,000 in recognition of their mammoth efforts during recent blizzards — but the money is practically lost on paying the tax on vital equipment over the year.

Oldham East and Saddleworth MP Phil Woolas has pledged to take their plea for tax relief directly to the Chancellor.

Senior OMRT spokesman Denzil Broadhurst said: “It’s ridiculous this generous donation from Rotary should effectively go straight back to Government in VAT on equipment which we have had to buy to run our team.”

Mick Neild, OMRT’s leader, said: “Government gives millions in tax relief and grants to the domestic film industry to make films that may or may not be entertaining, but we can’t get a measly few quid VAT relief on rescue kit to save lives.

“I think our politicians have lost all sense of what really matters.”

The 50-strong team of volunteers has attended 100 incidents and worked round the clock since the beginning of December to support ambulance crews and other emergency services, rescuing people injured or stranded by the horrendous weather conditions.

Dramatic incidents included rushing a pregnant woman to hospital and saving a seriously injured woman kicked by a horse in an isolated, snow-filled field.

Mr Woolas said: “I think all the ‘blue light’ organisations, including Oldham Mountain Rescue and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, should receive fair and equitable tax treatment.

“The work our mountain rescue team did in the recent severe weather was invaluable. They rescued sick or injured people the ambulance service could not get to, in urban, as well as rural parts of Oldham.

“I shall be asking the Chancellor to re-examine the best ways we can assist these rescue services.

“The Scottish Government is providing grant aid to the Mountain Rescue Committee of Scotland, this may be something that can be looked at for England and Wales.

“Meantime, I would encourage individuals who make a donation to Oldham Mountain Rescue Team, to Gift Aid their donation, which increases the value of their gift by about 28 per cent.”

Nationally, the mountain rescue fund-raising committee has appealed directly to Prime Minister Gordon Brown asking the Treasury Minister, Ian Pearson, to take a more relaxed stance in the tax refund debate.

Individual mountain and cave rescue teams are self-financing with voluntary donations and receive no national or regional funding.