posted on August 18, 2008

Telegraph: Lifeboat team rapped for using 'unsuitable boat' to save drowning girl

Published: 14/08/2008
Source: Telegraph Media Group

The Hope Cove coastguard team in South Devon defied orders not to take the 17-foot inflatable to sea when they saw a 13-year-old being swept out to sea by a rip current.

The boat had recently been repaired and was awaiting a seaworthiness inspection.

Despite battling through waves to rescue the teenager bosses at the Maritime and Coastguard Agency were furious on their return and confiscated their boat. All the volunteers have now been threatened with disciplinary action.

Recently retired coastguard Dave Clark, aged 54, said: "Everyone in the village is very angry. They feel the crew are being punished for trying to save a life.

"Anyone would have done the same thing when they saw the girl in trouble but when they came back their boat was taken away.

"Lives could be lost because the boat has been removed and locked up."

When the MCA withdrew the boat in June volunteers were so anxious for its return they paid for the repairs themselves.

At the start of the rescue on Tuesday, Hope Cove Station Officer Ian Pedrick, 49, asked for permission to use the boat because the girl was already 150 yards out to sea.

The crew then lost radio contact with coastguard headquarters at Brixham and, before being given the green light, went ahead with the rescue.

The boat has been in service without any problem for 15 years and carried out 91 successful rescues between 2000 and 2005 and around ten a year in the two summers since.

A spokesman for the MCA said: "The general purpose boat at Hope Cove was suspended from operational service on June 11 because of health and safety concerns regarding the structural integrity of the hull. Search and rescue effectiveness will not be compromised by the suspension of the general purpose boat."

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