HARD-PRESSED mountain rescue teams are taking their fight for VAT exemption to the European Commission.

Mountain Rescue England and Wales is asking the EU to intervene after the Government said it was unable to refund tax paid by rescue teams for essential equipment and services because European tax rules prohibited the concession.

The organisation’s national finance committee has decided to lobby the European tax and customs commissioner Laszio Kovacs after being given hope that the VAT rules could be changed when a review due to begin this year is completed.

Stuart Hulse, a member of the finance committee of Mountain Rescue England and Wales, said the Treasury treated mountain rescue as a “second class emergency service” when it came to providing financial relief.

Ambleside-based Mr Hulse said the Royal National Lifeboat Institution was “able to claim VAT back on far more items than we are”.

“All we are asking for is a level playing field so we can claim the tax back on items such as fuel, protective clothing, rescue vehicles and building repairs,” he said.

For more on this story see today's The Westmorland Gazette.