Four of Scotland's rescue teams have said agencies are putting them in danger by failing to provide air support

Mountain rescue teams have hit out at a lack at support from police and other agencies in moving bodies from the hills.

Glencoe, Tayside, Lochaber and Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Teams issued a joint statement on Friday (2 November) which criticised "a casual disregard" towards the vital work that the teams carry out across Scotland.

The charities have said there seems to be a complete disconnect of understanding between what a volunteer mountain rescue team does and the implications of not providing an appropriate level of support means from agencies, and criticised Police Scotland for failing to respond to its initial correspondence.

The teams said a new contract for search and rescue helicopters was impacting on their work, with a reluctance by the rescue helicopter operators to assist during missions.

It has been claimed there is an unwillingness to help with recovering bodies and helping to move volunteers.

The teams said that volunteers are being put at risk by being left to carry out long and difficult recoveries without support.

The statement said: “The inescapable conclusion to this is that either the aircraft and crews are too thinly spread to cover requirements or that the agencies do not view the welfare of the volunteer teams in the same way as they appreciate that of the pilots and crew.

“It is felt that the agencies have been clear here as to their opinions. They clearly do not view the welfare of the volunteer teams as of significant enough importance as to warrant the continued air support to clear the hill. They have also been cheeky enough to say that the teams ‘should’ be able to make their own way off the hill.”

A follow-up statement from the teams issued this morning (Monday, 5 November) said Police Scotland had attempted to address the concerns made and would encourage the details of the contract to be re-examined.

Superintendent Carol McGuire, from Police Scotland’s operational support, said: “Police Scotland is the coordinating authority for any land based search and rescue incident in Scotland and can only do this due to the ongoing support from all mountain rescue teams, for which we are grateful.

“We are in ongoing dialogue with the teams and all partner agencies in an effort to reach a mutually agreeable solution.”

HM Coastguard said it valued the work of the volunteers but stressed that each operation was dealt with on a case-by-case basis.

A spokesperson for the The Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA) said: "While the recovery of bodies positively confirmed as deceased is not strictly speaking a search and rescue mission, it is a mission HM Coastguard may support under some circumstances.

"Search and rescue helicopters should not routinely be required to clear the hill as fundamentally, a Mountain Rescue Team must be able to operate independently and without helicopter support as conditions on the day might mean that our helicopters are simply unable to reach a team on the hill."