UNION leaders have called for an independent inquiry into the closure of a North-East coastguard station, following a damning report from MPs.

The Commons Transport Select Committee branded staffing levels at the Maritime Coastguard Agency unacceptable and said it may have cost lives along the UK coastline.

Public and Commercial Services Union MCA Group president Dave Clempson said the closure of Tyne Tees coastguard station in December 1999 should be re-examined as part of an investigation into workloads and staffing levels around the country.

He said: "We have always considered that the Tyne Tees Centre should never have closed and that is still our firm belief."

He said a report by Strathclyde University assessing operational efficiency from 1995 to 1998 found that the co-ordination centres selected for closure were not necessarily the ones that were least effective in their primary purpose - that is to save lives.

Mr Clempson said: "Tyne Tees was a busy station. You now have busy workload rolled into one at Humber Coastguard where, at times, people do not have time to think they have so many incidents to deal with. We would like to see centres reinstated where it is shown the workload is sufficient."

According to the report from the Commons Transport Select Committee, the agency had been entirely complacent about understaffing and had failed to conduct timely research into the rise in deaths and accidents around Britain's coastline.

Although the MCA's chief executive Captain Steven Bligh had claimed that understaffing was not affecting safety, the committee said it was unconvinced.

It said there had been no proper research into the closure of the Tyne Tees centres or those at Pentland on the north coast of Scotland and Oban, in western Scotland.

The report said: "It is unacceptable that month after month, nearly a third of all watches are operating at or below minimum levels.''

It said deaths around the coast increased 28.1 per cent between 1998 and 2002 while accidents had risen 17.3 per cent over this period.

Mr Clempson said he had raised the issue of understaffing with management "time and time again" but was told they were trying to keep down costs.

The MPs' report said that one fatal accident in which a search-and-rescue helicopter went to the wrong location might have been caused by understaffing and inexperience.