Car owner blocks in lifeboat then calls for help

Yesterday, the owner of a car and trailer who blocked in the RNLI Calshot lifeboat while they went out on the water, later called for help from the same lifeboat station.

The “inconsiderate” member of the public parked their car, with the trailer attached, in a yellow box in front the clearly marked shed housing RNLI Calshot’s Atlantic 85 Class lifeboat.

Calshot lifeboat station only has two lifeboats, the Atlantic 85 and a smaller D-Class inshore lifeboat, meaning that this selfish act left half the station’s fleet unavailable to respond to emergency calls.

The RNLI managed to track down the owner of the car, who was out on the water, but when they tried to come back in, they got into difficulty and had to request the assistance of the Calshot lifeboat.

According to Hampshire Live, a spokesperson said: “The ideal asset to launch would have been the Atlantic 85 – the asset blocked into the shed, instead we needed to launch our D Class lifeboat ‘Willett’ to assist.

“Our volunteer crew are committed to saving lives at sea 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It is critical that we can access the assets we need, when we need them.”

Taking to social media, RNLI Calshot issued a ‘polite reminder’ following the incident: “When the pagers sound, every second counts and not being able to launch the most suitable boat for the job could literally be the difference between life and death.”

Many people commented in support of the RNLI, calling the car owner “stupid”, “inconsiderate” and an “absolute tool”, with suggestions that the car should have been “unceremoniously moved without care” or that the team “should just pick it up with a forklift and drag it out the way.”