Ministry of Defence waive a rescue fee!

I was rather entertained by this tale provided by BBC News where the Ministry of Defence has waived a very high fee to rescue a stranded Bullock. Without the rescue the tale would have had a sad ending! "Gosh - the Government's just paid for something" she said with a straight face.

I would like to think that the reason given (by the MoD) for waiving the charge, was an illustration of someone thinking "outside the box". Or am I taking the romanticist's view in this?