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Repatriation of deceased British Nationals from Sousse

Details
Category: Political

Mr Mel Stride  MP for Devon Central

Dear Mr Stride,

I ask, as a taxpayer and citizen, the following questions which require answers.  There should be no difficulty.

Those murdered on the beach in Tunisia have been brought back 8 at a time.

Yet the capacity of these Leviathans is :-

  • Capacity:
    • 102 paratroopers or
    • 134 troops with palletized and sidewall seats or
    • 54 troops with sidewall seats (allows 13 cargo pallets) only or
    • 36 litter and 54 ambulatory patients and medical attendants or
    • Cargo, such as an M1 Abrams tank, three Strykers, or six M1117 Armored Security Vehicles

The litter and ambulatory capacity would suggest that the 28 coffins could have been accommodated easily for one re-patriation flight.

  • What has been the cost of each flight, to and from Tunisia - Brize Norton
  • Was it not possible to accommodate all on one flight, and if not, why not.

I see the results of austerity all about, including a shamefully inadequate psychiatric service for children.  >700 ending in police cells in one year in Devon and Cornwall.

Yours faithfully

David Halpin

Dear Mr. Halpin,

Please find attached a response to your letter dated the 14th August.

Kind regards,

Crisis Management Department

Foreign and Commonwealth Office, King Charles Street, London, SW1A 2AH

FAO   Simon Wood  Head, Crisis Management Department  Foreign and Commonwealth Office


Dear Mr Wood,

Thank you for your letter.  This is the germane part of my letter to Mr Stride MP written 3-07-15

Those murdered on the beach in Tunisia have been brought back 8 at a time.

Yet the capacity of these Leviathans is :-

  • Capacity:
    • 102 paratroopers or
    • 134 troops with palletized and sidewall seats or
    • 54 troops with sidewall seats (allows 13 cargo pallets) only or
    • 36 litter and 54 ambulatory patients and medical attendants or
    • Cargo, such as an M1 Abrams tank, three Strykers, or six M1117 Armored Security Vehicles

The litter and ambulatory capacity would suggest that the 28 coffins could have been accommodated easily for one re-patriation flight.

  • What has been the cost of each flight, to and from Tunisia - Brize Norton
  • Was it not possible to accommodate all on one flight, and if not, why not.

The approximate cost of each flight must be available to you now.  I ask for a clear answer to the question asked in the last sentence.  It arises from my concern that medical services in the UK are failing through closures etc carried out on grounds of economy.  For instance - this am

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-34170904

The survivors might perhaps require psychological/psychiatric help.   It will not be available to them will it?

yours sincerely

David Halpin FRCS

FAO  Mr Simon Wood.

Thank you for your attached letter.  Regarding cost - I see the last account was in April

https://data.gov.uk/dataset/financial-transactions-data-fco/resource/7e99ac4d-d53a-4a36-a199-a509b9f51763

It seems that I will have to wait about 4 months before I will know the cost.  Please tell me what heading the re-patriation flights will be under Mr Wood.  But I prefer to know the cost now.  I am sure the FCO will have known  the approximate cost when the arrangements were made with the MoD.

(I have been reading the account re Addenbrookes.  Maternity services inadequate in parts.  I think of the risk of a mother and father having a child with severe cerebral palsy compared with the priority of bringing corpses back from Tunisia.)

Many thanks

David Halpin

 

I demand a definitive response to this e-mail - sent NINE months ago, within the fortnight.

yours sincerely

David Halpin MB BS FRCS

On 17/03/16 16:06, Baker Peter wrote:

Dear Mr Halpin

Before we can consider your complaint further, we need you to complete our complaint form (attached) to ensure that we have all of the information that we need.

As you have already had your complaint referred to us by your MP, you do not need to ask your MP to sign the form and refer it to us, although you can do if you wish to.

Kind regards

Peter Baker

Customer Services Officer

Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman

 

Dept of the Parliamentary Ombudsman          3-04-16

Dear Mr Baker,

I have returned to the form you sent having completed a page or two when you first sent it.  It cannot be opened now and neither can it be read once it is filed.  I feel strongly that I am being sent round the houses.  This 75 yr old citizen asked 2 straight forward questions.  ONE  the cost of the 4 C17 flights repatriating the 32 British dead  TWO  why was the whole number not brought home in one C17 transport plane given its capacity - which I related.

This was my first communication  3-07-15 - to my MP Mr Mel Stride (who passed it on to Mr Tobias Ellwood)

 

I have not had a reply from you Mr Baker.  Please be so good as to tell me the address to which I should send an FOI request in order to get answers to the two simple questions below.  This written the day after the year's memorial for the Sousse victims.

David Halpin