Merchant Shipping Act 1995

250 Remuneration for services of coastguard

(1) Subject to subsection (2) below, where services are rendered by any officers or men of the coastguard service in watching or protecting shipwrecked property the owner of the property shall pay in respect of those services remuneration according to a scale fixed by the Secretary of State.

(2) No liability in respect of those services arises under subsection (1) above where—

(a) the services have been declined by the owner of the property or his agent at the time they were tendered; or

(b) salvage has been claimed and awarded for the services.

(3) Remuneration under this section shall—

(a) be recoverable by the same means,

(b) be paid to the same persons, and

(c) be accounted for and applied in the same manner,

as fees received by the receiver under section 249.

(4) The scale fixed by the Secretary of State shall not exceed the scale by which remuneration to officers and men of the coastguard for extra duties in the ordinary service of the Commissioners of Customs and Excise is for the time being regulated.