Hastings Fishermen Deny They Blocked RNLI From Rescuing Migrants

A row has broken out after Hastings fishermen were accused by a caller on LBC radio of blocking the launch of an RNLI lifeboat and shouting abuse at volunteers for rescuing migrants.

On the morning of November 30 a Twitter user posted to say that he had shot a video on November 20 of a fisherman shouting at volunteers from the Hastings RNLI to stop rescuing migrants and that he'd stopped his donations to the lifesaving institute.

The Twitter user said he had video footage of the altercation taking place and he had taken photos of the vessel in question.

On Thursday, November 25th "Zoe" from Hastings called in to an LBC radio show and told James O'Brien that she'd seen a group of people blocking the RNLI from launching and shouting abuse at them such as, “Don’t bring any more of those home, we’re full up, that’s why we stopped our donations..".

But yesterday (Nov 30) Hastings Fisherman's Protection Society (HFPS) told The Daily Express that no fishermen were involved in the abuse and that observers on the day had got the wrong end of the stick.

In a separate interview with The Argus, fisherman Peter Coglan, owner of vessel the Clara June, stated that "Zoe" had misunderstood the context of the situation and was "totally out of order".

According to the HFPS and Mr Coglan, he had been walking down to the water to throw back the unwanted fish they'd caught - the undersized stuff, which they're meant to do - and an RNLI volunteer had shouted to him to get out of the way as they were about to launch a boat.

The fisherman had taken offence to being shouted at and an altercation ensued after which the RNLI had said they would treat the fishermen with more respect in future.

Mr Coglan emphatically denied that any of them had shouted at the RNLI about migrants or tried to stop the boat from launching.

He also told The Argus that he didn't like migrants coming to our shores but that he wouldn't do anything about it.

Meanwhile, what has been described by Peter Coglan as a lorry driver and not a member of the group of fishermen on the shore, had begun shouting at the RNLI as they tried to launch, telling them to stop rescuing migrants.

Police confirmed that they had attended the scene but merely stayed to monitor the situation to make sure it didn't escalate.

In response to the Twitter user who had initially reported the altercation, a second Twitter user posted an older photo of a boat protesting against migrants being allowed into the UK and likening the boat in the photo to Coglan's boat the Clara June:
 

Updates to follow.