by Former volunteers have been snubbed by RNLI bosses and forced to leave, the lifeboat crew have claimed.
Long-time members of the charity’s crew told The Telegraph of bitter internal strife at some lifeboat stations and requests to management were ignored.
One told of a mass resignation of volunteers in protest at leaders who saw them as “disposable”, while another claimed to have been sacked after being replaced by an all-weather inflatable shore vessel. .
Controversy has hit the charity
It comes as the RNLI celebrates its 200th anniversary, having saved more than 144,000 lives since 1824 and remains Britain’s and the Irish coast’s leading lifesaving service.
In a picture to mark the anniversary on Monday, the RNLI released a bird’s-eye view image of the £2.5 million Shannon-class lifeboat being launched – one of the vessels at the heart of the series.
Covering 238 lifeboat stations and many beaches, its current income of £230 million continues to grow as well as donations and legacies, but the prestigious charity has met with controversy at some stations.
Alex Smith, 69, said he was sacked as operations manager at Aberbroth Lifeboat Station in Angus, east Scotland, in June last year after confronting a Mersey-class all-weather lifeboat with a rigid Atlantic 85 inflatable boat to replace their all-weather lifeboat.
He claimed that he and other crew members were concerned that the Atlantic 85 had a range of six miles at sea and promised to give them the Shannon class instead, a new high-tech all-weather boat with a range . of 250 knots.
“The only thing that mattered to me was the safety of the crew,” said the semi-retired charter skipper. “The management did not pay any attention and did not listen to us.
‘Death on your hands’
“I’ve been sailing here all my life, I know the boat won’t be able to cope with bad conditions. Our leaders say that the neighboring stations at Montrose and Broughty Ferry will be able to step in if it’s too rough but it will take them 30 minutes to get here.
“That’s long enough to die on your hands.”
Mr Smith, who joined the RNLI in 2001 and was a shore navigator until 2009 when he became operations manager, said he was eventually sacked after a private WhatsApp chat in which he described his managers as “lying b——-“. leaked to charity. He was also criticized for talking to the local newspaper about the boat exchange without permission.
Another member of staff who has raised concerns about the charity’s management is Heidi Bakewell, 44, who resigned from Pwllheli station in north Wales last month after deciding that “volunteers are disposable”.
‘Division and discord’
She was one of 12 crew members with a combined 170 years of experience who were rescued one after another by a colleague who spoke only Welsh, which not everyone could understand.
The station was closed last August after an investigation into the series by the RNLI, which said there was so much “division and dissension” that rescue operations were “unsafe”.
Ms Bakewell, pub landlady at Y Llong in nearby Edern, said the volunteers were ready to start with a “clean slate” last month until managers told them they would have to reapply for their roles , and at that point 12 quit. .
‘Management have no idea’
“It’s absolutely devastating,” she told the Telegraph. “I was very surprised that, at a charity built on volunteers, the management does not seem to be trained to deal with any disagreement. They have no idea.”
The claims came as former personnel at other RNLI stations told MailOnline they claimed to have witnessed “bullying”.
This included Walton-on-the-Naze, Essex, where Stewart Oxley, 55, a volunteer of 37 years, claims he resigned from management after opposing the station’s £2million all-weather lifeboat. could carry 120 people. with D-class dinghies with three men, as the leaders said that the pier he launched was not safe.
An RNLI spokesman said of the Aberbrothe row that “no change would be made which would jeopardize safety” and as a result of a four-month consultation the boats were swapped, although there was one Atlantic 85 lifeboat, with three Shannon-class lifeboats. and four D class covering 33 nautical miles. from Anstruther to Montrose “will provide the best rescue response”.
Agreed to proceed
“We do not sack volunteers for disagreeing or making appropriate challenges to decision-making,” the charity said.
The Pwllheli succession spokesman said two-thirds of the crew and 13 new volunteers had “broken down the relationship between people at the station” and were now ready to move on and an “intense two-week training period is now in full swing”. . get the lifeboat back into service.
In response to further claims by MailOnline, the RNLI accused the publication of “deliberately attempting to downplay our 200th anniversary” and “chose to regurgitate some largely historical narratives to create a false impression to create for our charity – a story that only most of our people have. do not recognize”.
