Crew sacking will not affect £7million RNLI Jersey funding

Saturday 18 November 2017

The RNLI have moved to reassure islanders that the £7million in funding for Jersey will not be affected following the charity’s decision to stand down the St Helier lifeboat crew.

It announced that the St Helier lifeboat station would be closed yesterday, following a major breakdown in relations with the crew.

RNLI Head of Lifesaving Will Stephens said that the charity had poured time and effort into meeting  the St Helier crew “above and beyond” any of their other 238 stations this year in a bid to find a solution.

He acknowledged, however, that their working relationship had “broken down beyond repair” over the past eight months.

On Monday this week, the St Helier crew told the RNLI that they intended to set up their own station, after a long running dispute over the treatment of their coxswain, Andy Hibbs. 

Pictured: Coxswain Andy Hibbs, whose suspension by the RNLI earlier this year prompted the breakdown in relations, was reinstated during summer. This was not enough, however, to remedy the ongoing tensions between the crew and charity.

Yesterday, the charity confirmed that the relationship between the two parties was beyond repair, and that the St Helier station would be closed “for the immediate future” because they felt it impossible to keep it open with a “constant threat of crew resignation.” 

As a result, the station and adjoining shop were locked up yesterday morning, and the all-weather lifeboat was taken back to Poole.

Speaking following what he described as “a very difficult day”, Mr Stephens acknowledged that leaving the island without an all-weather boat constituted a “risk” but that they were looking to “mitigate it in every way we can.”

From next week, he said that the RNLI would look to start rebuilding a St Helier team and that the boat would be returned once this is done. “The Lifeboat has gone back to Poole – that’s really for a duty of care for the lifeboat. It was raised by money from Jersey so we’re going to take it back, we’re going to service it, we’re going to look after it until we can make such plans to return an all-weather lifeboat service back in Jersey,” he commented.

 Pictured: RNLI Head of Lifesaving Will Stephens was in the island yesterday to liaise with stakeholders about how to move forward following the news.

The new crew, an RNLI spokesperson assured, will still have all the same training and resources available to them as the old crew, and their current funds will remain intact.

A spokesperson told Express: “There is currently a restricted fund balance of nearly £7m for Jersey. Less than 1% of this amount is specifically restricted to [the St Helier] lifeboat station. So those funds aren’t under any threat as we still operate a lifeboat at St Catherine’s and the seasonal lifeguard service. We’re also doing everything we can to get the St Helier inshore lifeboat back up and running as quickly as possible as well as restoring an all-weather lifeboat service to Jersey.”

Despite difficulties, Mr Stephens added that the RNLI management would seek to learn from the experience. “We have had many reviews, investigations. We’ve implemented all of the recommendations of every review that we’ve done, and we’ve provided extra training, we’ve provided extra support, we’ve actually invested in every way that we can to bring the service back up with the crew in St Helier. But at this point we need to invest in the future now.” 

Part of that future, Mr Stephens explained, will involve liaising with search and rescue (SAR) forces across the Channel Islands, UK and France to bridge the gap while a new St Helier team is appointed.

Video: The all-weather lifeboat is taken back to Poole.

The Harbourmaster, Captain Bill Sadler, will be instrumental in this process.

In a statement, he said that he was “disappointed” with the circumstances, given the “very long and positive history the island has with the RNLI”, but thanked the St Helier crew for their long-running service.

“As Harbourmaster, my priority is maintaining safety at sea. I have a legal responsibility to coordinate search-and-rescue operations in Jersey’s territorial waters, and therefore it is my responsibility to ensure that our waters are as safe as possible. Jersey Coastguard is fortunate to call on over 50 resources in times of an emergency, including lifeboats operated on-island by the RNLI in St Catherine’s, the Inshore Fire and Rescue Service as well as boat and aircraft based in France and the other Channel Islands,” he said, adding that he had discussed flank cover with Guernsey and France.

In an additional safety measure, Captain Sadler also called for mariners to take extra care on the seas and respect their responsibilities, “including the logging of a traffic report with Jersey Coastguard, checking fuel, making sure safety equipment is in working order and having an operational VHF radio.”

The Council of Ministers will not be directly involved in the transition process, but nonetheless pledged their support to the RNLI and potential independent rescue crew moving forward.

A spokesperson said: “It is regrettable that the breakdown in the relationship between the St Helier Lifeboat crew and the RNLI has resulted in the closure of the St Helier Station.

“Ministers would like to take the opportunity to reassure the public that safety at sea remains of paramount importance to all concerned. Jersey Coastguard has ensured that cover is available in the short term and is working on a long term solution.

“The RNLI will retain a strong presence in Jersey, and will continue to run the St Catherine Lifeboat Station and the Beach Lifeguard Service. Ministers would like to thank the St Helier Crew for their many years of dedicated service to the RNLI and will arrange to meet them to hear their plans for the future.”