Criticism of the RNLI

I have a simple view of the RNLI..and that is one of leave them alone.

Do they cost me anything...No.
Will they be there if i need them...Yes
Do i have sea start meaning that i'm not a burden on the RNLI..Yes i do.

If they manage to get billions in donations and have trillions in the bank and sit on solid gold loos...personally i don't care.

Rather than bash something that costs us nothing why don't we bash those who us the FREE service for stupid reasons.

If you run out of fuel and call the RNLI..shame on you i say..!!!

If your engine breaks in a yacht and there is wind to sail and you call the RNLI...shame on you i say...!!!

Also do the people who don;t like the new RNLI building actually knwo what goes on inside...do they know that is is also a hotel where rooms can be used at weekends?

I'm going post a thread having a go at the salvation army because i object to them buying expensive brass instruments to play on street corners at xmas...

There...i'm done.
 
Sybarite said:
Here is a (nearly) complete extract of the exchange. Don't forget the person affirming this is one of our esteemed moderators.

byron
Re: commercial tow

“This commercial tow harks back to the late 70s. People were calling up HMCG and saying they needed a tow. Lifeboats were being launched only to find that it wasn't an emergency it was a matter of someone having run out of fuel. In one instance I was despatched by Calshot Coastguard to a vessel only to find that he had "run out of wind" and felt he couldn't go fast enough on his engine to beat the tide in time to make a dinner date.
The then D.O. took a conscious decision to establish if a tow warranted the classification 'emergency' if not then a commercial tow would be the answer. The cost of the tow would be a matter of negotiation between the two parties.
Contrary to what most people believe the RNLI receive a payment from HMCG each time they are launched.”

kimhollamby
Re: commercial tow

Byron, the interesting thing here is that, in countless hours of listening to VHF Ch16/67 it's the first time I've specifically heard offer of a commercial tow to a leisure boat. How much are RNLI paid?

byron
Re: commercial tow

I am totally out of touch with what the cost is. I do know that in the late 70s the charge for the Navy Helicopters out of Daedelus was something like £400 per hour.
I do know that salvage cannot be claimed under these circumstances and even if it were claimable amount received is entire dependent on various factors i.e. the danger the rescuer put themselves in, the expertise used etc. etc.

As a further matter of interest the RNLI do not claim salvage by their own rules. The Coxswain can save the souls, having landed the casualties they can re-launch and attempt to save the vessel. In which case they (the crew) are responsible for all fuel used and any damage occasioned to the Lifeboat.

jfm
Re: funding of RNLI

Byron is that definitely true, that RNLI are paid by HMCG? In other words are you saying RNLI is not funded entirely by voluntary donations (as they claim) but by the taxpayer?


byron
Re: funding of RNLI

I have been an Auxiliary Coastguard for over a quarter of a century. In that time I have done more than my fair share of tows and never taken a penny. If there is no danger to life or limb one's first option is to find a vessel local assistance say in the form of a fellow yachtsman. The other option is a commercial tow. If there is danger to life or limb it is a legal requirement for other vessels to render assistance. If they are in a position to do so. (Merchant Shipping Act)

As regards the RNLI receiving launch monies from HMCG. What they get would never pay for the service but every little helps.
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All you have done there is repeat an accusation that even the original poster cannot validate.

Nowhere does he provide any evidence to support his accusation - just a load of half baked insinuations.

You really should develop your critical faculties a bit further and stop believing stuff just because it fits your prejudices.
 
When it has all gone wrong,through ignorance or misfortune,knowing that orange boat will appear out of the murk is worth every single farthing they raise.
 
Tranona said:
All you have done there is repeat an accusation that even the original poster cannot validate.

Nowhere does he provide any evidence to support his accusation - just a load of half baked insinuations.

You really should develop your critical faculties a bit further and stop believing stuff just because it fits your prejudices.
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It was made by somebody who was for 25 years an auxiliary coastguard and, as the question was payments from the coast guard then I think maybe his views should be listened to.

Are you in a position to absolutely refute the fact? Or are you stating stuff just because it fits your préjudices?

Incidentally when looking at those old posts somebody did confirm that RNLI threads on here are closely monitored by the RNLI. If that is so, and continues to be so, then I would invite them to jump in and correct anything that I have got factually wrong.

You will also note that those who criticized the RNLI at the time include some pretty august members of this forum : byron, tcm, ccscott49, Parahandy.....
 
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reginaldon said:
Of course all these so-called 'rescues' are good money-raising propaganda.
I'm sure Sybarite who lives in France, sees the massive spend of the RNLI compared with its French equivalent finds those comparisons odious!
The way the hierarchy 'reimburse' themselves is also shameful.
All charities should be compelled to publish clearly their staffing reimbursements.
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My curiosity was first peaked when I saw a few years ago that there more people in the RNLI earning over £60k per year than the total number of employees in France.

Then, looking into it a bit more I saw that the RNLI operating budget was 10 times more than the SNSM's, a fact that Parahandy had remarked upon before I joined the forum.

The RNLI also claim that 95% who participate are volunteers. That would give them nearly 35000 volunteers. Are they really claiming that?
 
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Sybarite said:
It was made by somebody who was for 25 years an auxiliary coastguard and, as the question was payments from the coast guard then I think maybe his views should be listened to.

Are you in a position to absolutely refute the fact? Or are you stating stuff just because it fits your préjudices?

Incidentally when looking at those old posts somebody did confirm that RNLI threads on here are closely monitored by the RNLI. If that is so, and continues to be so, then I would invite them to jump in and correct anything that I have got factually wrong.

You will also note that those who criticized the RNLI at the time include some pretty august members of this forum : byron, tcm, ccscott49, Parahandy.....
Click to expand...

Sybarite;5667606]It was made by somebody who was for 25 years an auxiliary coastguard and, as the question was payments from the coast guard then I think maybe his views should be listened to.


In all my 30+ years with father grandfather and son and grandson on LB crew I have never heard of CG paying LB for every launch, (or any Launch) perhaps you could give equal weight to my experience of this


PS: on salvage claims in the long distance past the LB crew also had to pay the wages for the launch of any full time LB crew member on the LB, usually the mechanic if they did not wish to take a share of the salvage claim
 
I would like to know the situation with RNLI funding and expenditure for one reason. If they are wealthy then i would divert some of my charity giving to them, to other causes. They should be honest and open in all their fund raising literature etc. If, through some scandal or news "expose" they lose the trust of the public, they will have made a major strategic mistake.
 
Sybarite said:
It was made by somebody who was for 25 years an auxiliary coastguard and, as the question was payments from the coast guard then I think maybe his views should be listened to.

Are you in a position to absolutely refute the fact? Or are you stating stuff just because it fits your préjudices?

Incidentally when looking at those old posts somebody did confirm that RNLI threads on here are closely monitored by the RNLI. If that is so, and continues to be so, then I would invite them to jump in and correct anything that I have got factually wrong.

You will also note that those who criticized the RNLI at the time include some pretty august members of this forum : byron, tcm, ccscott49, Parahandy.....
Click to expand...

Just read it again. When pressed in the exchange he backs off and does not confirm that payments were made. Instead he rambles on about helicopter charges - again without any substantiation.

Just because he has 25 years (in the 1970s!) as an auxiliary coastguard does not make him an authority. Lots of others with far more knowledge have confirmed that the RNLI never charge for rescues.

As for your "august" members - most of them no longer post and of course the handful you mention as being critical are but a tiny proportion of past and current contributors.

Prejudice or not I would want more evidence than that - particularly as that is the ONLY source that has ever even suggested such a thing.

And now you have a current poster who does (and did) know what was going on telling you it is a load of cobblers.

That is what I mean by "critical faculty" - something which you are lacking if you rely on such flimsy "evidence".
 
You are being oversensitive Sybarite. Some organisations / professions get nothing but hero worship from the public and this is reflected with the RNLI in the endowments they receive. They arent beyond criticism. Nobody and nothing in life is, apart from my wife.
 
Sybarite said:
Are you in a position to absolutely refute the fact?
Click to expand...

When a credulous person says that in front of other credulous persons, the next thing you get is a new religion.

The intellectual default is not to believe all things to be true until they are refuted. If that is your default position (which, on the evidence of this thread, it might well be) then you have bigger problems than the RNLI. Did you know there is a huge diamond buried underneath your house? I doubt you're in a position to absolutely refute such a fact- so you should get a jackhammer and start digging. Don't stop until the fact can be absolutely refuted. Have fun.
 
The RNLI did very well out of the wills of wartime merchant seamen; they were required to make a will before going to sea and it was suggested that they leave something to "the Lifeboat". A lot of people never changed their will...

That source of funding has dried up and the RNLI are understandably concerned to find other similar sources of income.

This seems to me to be perfectly reasonable.

I have no criticism to make of the RNLI; I just hope I never trouble them...
 
Sybarite said:
My curiosity was first peaked when I saw a few years ago that there more people in the RNLI earning over £60k per year than the total number of employees in France.

Then, looking into it a bit more I saw that the RNLI operating budget was 10 times more than the SNSM's, a fact that Parahandy had remarked upon before I joined the forum.

The RNLI also claim that 95% who participate are volunteers. That would give them nearly 35000 volunteers. Are they really claiming that?
Click to expand...

Umm .... so what? The whole thing works doesn't it? ... and it's free, unlike the SNSM ... maybe they could take some tips from the RNLI. Besides, they don't sell Giles cartoon Christmas cards like the RNLI ... how bad is that?
 
bitbaltic said:
When a credulous person says that in front of other credulous persons, the next thing you get is a new religion.

The intellectual default is not to believe all things to be true until they are refuted. If that is your default position (which, on the evidence of this thread, it might well be) then you have bigger problems than the RNLI. Did you know there is a huge diamond buried underneath your house? I doubt you're in a position to absolutely refute such a fact- so you should get a jackhammer and start digging. Don't stop until the fact can be absolutely refuted. Have fun.
Click to expand...

A medium told a friend that I have bejewelled sword buried in the garden. Also James II, voyaging through France is rumoured to have buried his treasure in my small town. People have been searching for it for décades. So....
 
rotrax said:
Sybarite-I note what you say-and obviously have an obsession with.

Surely the time for critisism is when they fail in the task the have taken on. If they fail with the resources they have they will deserve censure.

Until then look at what we have in the UK and Ireland.

The leading lifeboat service in the word-and its free if you need it. Contributors are happy to give, many are happy to be members.

Despite your views-which you are perfectly entitled to-its boats sell like hot cakes to other countries rescue services when pensioned off.
It may be possible to buy ready made craft significantly cheaper elsewhere. Surely this would lead to higher reserves-another of your gripes.

It is clear that your view on the RNLI is in the minority with forum users.

Can I respectfully ask you to stop beating the same old drum?

Prosim.........................
Click to expand...

+1
 
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