A senior coastguard who quit after being demoted for taking a teenage casualty to hospital instead of waiting two hours for an ambulance said the experience has left him “numb”.

Gary Court resigned from the North Devon coastguard team last week after 32 years of service. The 53-year-old who was the senior officer in charge of his branch said he was left with no other choice but to resign after being reprimanded for rescuing an unconscious teenager.

The row comes just days after two coastguards in Hope Cove, south Devon, were dismissed for rescuing a car using their own vehicle, resulting in the closure of the coastguard station.

Mr Court was on his way to bed at 1am on June 23 when he received a call to assist the ambulance service with an 18-year-old male discovered unconscious in the sand dunes of Croyde beach.

The man was inebriated and unconscious and was found wet and cold in the sand dunes.