IT has been revealed that the new Maritime and Coastguard Agency headquarters suffered a power outage just months after opening.

The House of Commons Transport Committee was told the outage at the base in Segensworth on February 8 had lasted for one hour and 47 minutes, during which time there were three coastguard incidents which were all dealt with “satisfactorily”.

The committee also heard from MCA chief executive Sir Alan Massey that the closures of centres across the country over the last year had left the agency “clearly light on experience”.

He said the service had only been able to retain 57 per cent of its experienced staff, adding: “It means 43 per cent of the staff are clearly light on experience.”