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Echo takes its message to Westminster

The Dorset Echo has delivered thousands of coupons to the Government in a bid to save the Portland coastguard helicopter.

The newspaper has been campaigning to save the search and rescue helicopter Whiskey Bravo, after plans were announced to move the service 50 miles from Portland to Lee-on-Solent in Hampshire.

Campaigners fear lives could be put at risk if the helicopter is moved, with response times increased by up to 30 minutes.

The fight to save the service has now come to a head as Echo reporter Martin Lea travelled to Westminster to hand over almost 5,000 readers’ coupons and a specially compiled portfolio of Echo stories.

They were presented to transport minister David Jamieson, who promised to make the decision of the future of the helicopter within the next few days.

Echo editor David Murdock said the scale of support from readers had been unprecedented.

He said: “There is no subject in recent years which has generated such concern.

“With nearly 5,000 of our forms from the paper returned, that means that almost one in four readers have actively registered their support in the space of less than two weeks.”

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