Have we done this yet? Sorry if we have, please delete.

http://www.northumberlandgazette.co.uk/news/local-news/the-huge-cost-of-search-for-missing-man-who-had-lied-to-avoid-an-80-hotel-bill-1-7064758

There’s a suggestion that the bloke may have “form”. A CCTV picture would be useful.

What an absolute cock. I hope he gets the bill.
I was back up in that neck of the woods on the day, it was truly grim out and certainly wouldn’t have wanted to venture up into the hills.

Cyclist part is irrelevant, could have been walker, motorcyclist etc but bloke is a complete ar$ehole if he has just scarped…

…however, unless i missed something, they haven’t found him yet so, aside the false name, what if he did tell the truth about what he was doing?

what a ****!

Why didn’t he just stay at a premier travel in and claim to have had a bad nights sleep?

What didn’t he just stay at a premier travel in and claim to have had a bad nights sleep?

You can’t do that anymore.

So, reading the article the blokes done a runner and obviously not considered the possible outcome and consequences of his actions. Thinking he was just putting the hotel out of pocket hes probably (if he is safe) feeling like a right t@wt now on discovery of what happened.

There are rumours (and I stress rumours) that the guy has previous for similar scams.

Chap is obviously a crook. Hope they send him a bill .
However there is a little bit of me unhappy with the fact he just didn’t turn up turned into a search. Probably a sad indication of the society we live in, in that if we change our minds some one worries.
I know I will be flamed for this but I think this was all a bit too quick. I can think of several situations when I have nit turned up as expected. Whilst I appreciate the concern I would not appreciate the idea that I needed help without some clear indication.

Probably a sad indication of the society we live in, in that if we change our minds some one worries.
I know I will be flamed for this but I think this was all a bit too quick.

He was very talkative in the bar. He told staff he was off cycling in the hills and would be back. So when he wasn’t back by 10pm we were worried. The onus was on us to raise the alarm. He has put hotel staff through a lot of worry about what had happened to him.”

There is not much else to be up to in Wooler at 10pm at night. The staff did the right thing. It’s not like it was 4pm and he hadn’t popped into say hello. It was a truly miserable day out there, if he was out on the hill he could well have been dying, if not dead already.

So if you went of cycling in a remote area for the day and didn’t come home you wouldn’t want to be searched for?

Probably a sad indication of the society we live in, in that if we change our minds some one worries.

Eh?

What a sack of ****. Hopefully he’ll get what he deserves.

“However there is a little bit of me unhappy with the fact he just didn’t turn up turned into a search. Probably a sad indication of the society we live in, in that if we change our minds some one worries.”
I have always thought it to be standard mountain safety to tell someone where you were going and your expected return time so that mountain rescue can be called in the event of an accident

What crankboy said. Rule 1.

He presumably had a booking for the following night, told staff he was riding into the Cheviots alone in appalling conditions, according to MR.

Far from saying that they put the call in too soon, I think the hotel deserves massive praise for being aware enough to alert MR when he didn’t turn up that evening.

If it had been genuine, they could have saved his skin.

An RAF Sea King helicopter, which costs £11,978 per hour to run

What fuel are they using, single malt?

Erm, am I missing something? Aside from the false name, if the guy still hasn’t been found how do we know he isn’t still up on the Cheviots?

Aside from the false name, if the guy still hasn’t been found how do we know he isn’t still up on the Cheviots?

That’s the press version of the story.

What a numpty.

If anyone is thinking of a cheap holiday in Northumberland though we stayed in the Black Bull 3 years ago and it was brilliant, I would thoroughly recommend it. It was cheap, the rooms were recently done up and were nice and clean, the breakfast was belting and the pizzeria they own next door was flipping incredible.

An RAF Sea King helicopter, which costs £11,978 per hour to run, including paying for crew, an engineer and fuel, was in the air for nearly five-and-a-half hours across the two days.

What fuel are they using, single malt?

Fuel, people, spares, depreciation, control costs etc. How much does your sea king cost to run?

An RAF Sea King helicopter, which costs £11,978 per hour to run, including paying for crew, an engineer and fuel, was in the air for nearly five-and-a-half hours across the two days.

What fuel are they using, single malt?

Fuel, people, spares, depreciation, control costs etc. How much does your sea king cost to run?[/quote]
I don’t have one, hence I’m asking. But it’s only the variable costs that count when you say what it cost for a particular call out. I’m assuming that the salaries of the crew are paid regardless of whether they fly; depreciation – unless they crash it it will depreciate on the ground; spares – did they use any, for 5 hour flying?

I’m not saying it isn’t expensive to run a chopper but the press do like to sensationalise and 65 grand sounds a whole lot better than a few hundred.

Doesn’t alter that the crook is still a crook (unless he is dead in a ditch and they just couldn’t find him)

I guess they are just making shit up then…
The more hours you fly it, the more you need to maintain it.

Total cock!

Defrauding a business then taking up the time of those emergency services… Really pisses me off especially as I don’t overlook the importance of those emergency services for those of us who like to enjoy the countryside.

On a hellychopter, pretty much all the moving parts are carefully controlled in terms of how many hours they’re allowed to fly/spin for. All logged, all replaced as per the schedule.

So it’s pretty straightforward to establish hourly parts costs.

They’re on to him.

http://www.northumberlandgazette.co.uk/news/local-news/missing-man-who-sparked-a-costly-search-is-known-to-police-1-7077506

I don’t have one, hence I’m asking. But it’s only the variable costs that count when you say what it cost for a particular call out. I’m assuming that the salaries of the crew are paid regardless of whether they fly; depreciation – unless they crash it it will depreciate on the ground; spares – did they use any, for 5 hour flying?

Bet it costs more if you actually added up all the costs – this is the RAF, not some cheap public sector dept.

TBF, if they’re not out rescuing they have to practice anyway.

I once spent a very wild, wet night searching in the Lakes for 2 people who had phoned (the ambulance service, broken call) after one of them fell and injured a leg. It was curious at the time that the police seemed to already know which car to look for to establish a start point for the search. Turned out that they had been leaving B&B accommodation without paying! They were eventually found having almost reached a road the following day. Curiously they were not keen on being rescued at that point.

SeaKings burn around 5 litres of aviation fuel a minute per engine – so approx 600 litres per hour. Works out to around £800 in fuel costs per hour alone. Add on calling the pilots and crew in and paying their flying wage, parts cost and maintenance it all adds up.

You wouldn’t say the cost of a taxi is merely paying his fuel costs – otherwise it’d be a lot cheaper to get one home!