THE Jersey Lifeboat Association has requested it be allowed to operate again – as a leaked report into the events surrounding the 2017 St Helier RNLI crew walkout which led to the breakaway formation of the JLA threatens to reignite the dispute.
In an open letter sent to the Jersey Harbour Authority, Ports of Jersey and Deputy Chief Minister Lyndon Farnham on Friday, JLA chair Ben Shenton said the charity had been ‘illegally suspended’ in December, when an investigation was launched after its all-weather lifeboat hit rocks near Noirmont Point the previous month.
Mr Shenton said there was ‘no legal or factual basis’ to freeze either of its vessels, including its super-fast inshore RIB called Albert Pinel, and asked for written confirmation that the JLA could return to action as a search and rescue asset ‘with immediate effect’.
His comments came just hours before an alleged copy of a report into the breakdown in relationships between the former St Helier lifeboat crew, Ports of Jersey and the RNLI was circulated by the Jersey Action Group page on Facebook.
The 2017 saga made headlines when a series of incidents – including the investigation of a complaint against coxswain Andy Hibbs – led to the dismissal of Mr Hibbs by the RNLI in April that year and, despite his later reinstatement, eventually culminated in the charity temporarily removing the George Sullivan all-weather lifeboat from operation. The dispute laid the foundations for the formation of the JLA in 2019.
The Jersey Action Group post allegedly contains the report by Queen’s Counsel Sir David Calvert-Smith into the dispute.
Included among the conclusions made by its author is that there was a ‘lack of accountability’ from Ports of Jersey regarding the situation and that the government ‘could perhaps have done more’ to prevent the fallout ‘which left the Island without ALB cover for significant periods and has resulted in the current situation of two such lifeboats’.
It also suggests that there was an unhealthy ‘Royal Navy old boy’ relationship between senior officials of the RNLI and Ports of Jersey which ‘contributed throughout to the lack of openness in the way in which both organisations approached the problems at the time and have done so since’.
In the leaked report, Sir David said: ‘Although ultimately the actions of the RNLI are beyond the reach of the Government of Jersey it is reasonably clear that the government, in particular the responsible ministers [Economic Development Minister Lyndon Farnham, then-Chief Minister Ian Gorst, then-Assistant Chief Minister Paul Routier and then-Environment Minister Steve Luce] at the time, were kept informed by the RNLI of its intentions both in April and November 2017 and could perhaps have done more to prevent the consequences of the RNLI action which left the Island without ALB cover for significant periods and has resulted in the current situation of two such lifeboats.’
Responding to Mr Shenton’s letter and the alleged report, a Ports of Jersey spokesperson said: ‘Ports of Jersey, as the appointed Harbour Authority for Jersey, has statutory powers and duties for a range of maritime matters, including search and rescue in Jersey’s territorial waters.
‘Following the grounding of the Sir Max Aitken III, one of the Jersey Lifeboat Association’s search and rescue vessels, on 10 November 2021, Jersey Coastguard commissioned a report into this serious incident. After an incident of this nature, a search and rescue asset’s declared status must be reassessed by Jersey Coastguard to provide the [Deputy Chief] Minister with the necessary assurance for the safety of future operations.’
They added that Jersey Coastguard was ‘committed to working with all search and rescue partners’ and that the co-ordination of search and rescue activity required assets and their crews to ‘comply with international standards’.
