YOUR headline “Thank you for saving my life” prompts me to respond to it.

I think saying ‘thank you’ for being rescued after such an act of is the least Ervin Aliaj can do under the circumstances.

The journey he took from the top of Durdle Door to the water below took only about 3 seconds. In that short time his velocity and that of every similar risk-taker would have reached about 100 feet per second, approximately 68 mph!

Not exactly a ‘soft landing’ by any stretch of the imagination.

It’s a free country so he and others who choose to recklessly risk their lives and health can do as they wish.

However, this demonstrates their total lack of imagination.

Their possible death or serious injury will be up to their friends and family to cope with not to mention the nursing care and emergency call outs of other services such as fire, ambulance and air which the public will have to pay for.

Against the advice and teaching of aqua diving centres never to dive without a ‘buddy’, quite often solo divers get themselves into trouble in the sea around Portland.

This causes similar problems for the emergency services including getting casualties to a pressure chamber before it’s too late to save them from death by nitrogen narcosis. Again, their relatives and the public are obliged to pick up the respective emotional and financial costs.

Pilots of aircraft visiting various places in France and Germany probably hope when crossing the Channel that if they suffer an engine failure over the sea, the local rescue helicopter won’t be tied up attending to someone who had ignored all of his training and the consequences of his actions thus reducing their own chances of survival.

Putting adventurism before plain common sense ignores its cost.

If people want to risk hurting their families and causing asociated financial costs, they should at least insure themselves against the financial costs arising from their arrogance.

Unfortunately, nothing can compensate loved ones.

So Ervin, now’s your chance to make a substantial donation to the NHS and stop being silly.

MIKE JOSLIN Dorchester