§ Mr. Muddasked the Secretary of State for Trade if he will make a statement on the failure of Land's End radio to operate for a period of five hours on Monday 17 December; and what steps are being taken to ensure 24-hour cover under all circumstances.
§ Mr. Michael MarshallI have been asked to reply.
The Land's End radio station is operated by the Post Office. I understand that the operating failure lasted from 16.24 to 18.30 hours GMT on Monday 17 December and was due to a break in the mains electricity supply caused by gale damage, and a delay in starting the station's standby generator because of a battery failure. The Post Office informs me that it is urgently reviewing its maintenance and testing procedures for this particular type of standby generator to 477W prevent a recurrence of a failure of this sort. It also points out that the sea area served by this station is also covered by other radio stations.