I have a friend in Yorkshire who has worked for BP in Saltend for the last 30 years.

Amongst his other duties, he is charged with the safety of the workforce in his department and tells me that for as long as he has worked for the company, safety has always been the number one consideration.

They work in an industry where the consequences of shortcuts or the tiniest error can be catastrophic; and they all know that. He tells me that every time he goes on shift his main priority is to ensure that everyone on site leaves to return to their families as they arrived, safe and well.

He says that everyone from CEO, Tony Hayward, down to the technicians is devastated by what has happened on the Deepwater Horizon platform, but they all also believe that until a full investigation has taken place it is deeply unjust to point the finger of blame in any direction.

He points out too that the company is now an international one and has been ‘BP’ rather than ‘British Petroleum’ for ten years. He and his colleagues share the uncomfortable feeling that many of us had last week at the undignified spectacle of their CEO being treated like a common criminal by members of the congressional committee.

One cannot help but wonder whether an American CEO would be asked to, or indeed agree to, endure a similar grilling were there a comparable incident in our waters.

In fact, back in 1998 when the Piper Alpha North Sea oil and gas rig exploded catastrophically with the tragic loss of 167 lives, I don’t recall the chief executive of Occidental Petroleum (Caledonian) Ltd. – an American Company facing anything remotely comparable.

And even after that company was found by the Cullen Enquiry to have inadequate maintenance and safety procedures, no criminal proceedings were ever brought.

It is undeniable that something went wrong somewhere in the Gulf of Mexico and those who suffer any loss as a result should be compensated, but it would be absurd to imagine that all concerned are not well aware of this and keen to minimise the damage and consequent loss to all parties as soon as possible.

All the sabre rattling and unseemly Brit bashing comments emanating from certain quarters in the United States are neither helpful nor fair.