U.K. diving tends to be either quite young people learning while at university or significantly older, sometimes ‘born again’ divers. Family and finance distract. Many people, maybe 40 to 50%, learn in self sufficient clubs. Those clubs either have their own RHIBs or book day whole boat charters. Most clubs will also run trips abroad or to places like Scapa Flow.
Older divers are often relatively well off and like the toys and like to use the toys. On Friday I was at an inland site and there were as many CCRs as singles.
There has been one lawsuit, that I know about, involving an injured diver. Generally I think the insurance people apply appropriate pressure, nothing terrible, diving here is cheaper than in Seattle, for example.
If you look at the dive sites mentioned on the web sites of the boats I linked to, many, maybe most, are deeper than 30m and best done as deco dives. Deco diving is normal. Not every one all the time, but not worthy of comment.
Diving here is quite hard, too hard for many who decide to only dive on holiday. Anything that makes it easier helps. That can make an 80m trimix dive possible or allow a 75 year old to dive, or allow a less than athletic person to dive when getting up a ladder would be too much or just really unpleasant and embarrassing.
There are no DMs. None. The crew does not get in the water unless the boss gives them a day off, maybe to get a lesson from a customer. Boats are not generally run by shops.
Why are there lifts? Because once someone had a lift they had an advantage. Then every boat had to have one.
In my opinion the most important thing is that the divers are organised on their own account. If a skipper is good then they get repeat business because the clubs, independent instructors and shop clubs remember. Individuals don’t generally dive enough to build that insight.
