The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) has been accused of failing to tackle violent bullying, after a row about rescuing people crossing the Channel in small boats ended in a volunteer being beaten unconscious by a crewmate who remained in charge of a lifeboat, despite the assault being witnessed by a regional manager.
The incident illustrates how the issue of rescuing people seeking refuge in the UK has fuelled tensions inside the RNLI. A leaked internal survey revealed staff anger at the “toxic masculinity” of some colleagues.
The attack occurred at a family social event on Boxing Day for a RNLI lifeboat station in north-west England. One crew member began abusing another over his humanitarian work at sea. He shouted: “I’m fucking sick of you and the fucking migrants.” He then head-butted his colleague so hard that the colleague was knocked unconscious and left with a broken nose and two black eyes.
The assault was witnessed by an RNLI regional manager and a former full-time coxswain at the station, who continues to volunteer there. The manager, who is a long-term friend of the attacker, refused to call the police. When the victim recovered consciousness, he was told by the manager to go home. The victim was later treated in hospital, where he was given stitches on the bridges of his nose.
Two days later, the manager went on a social boat trip with the attacker, according to postings on Facebook. The manager, who is responsible for nearby lifeboat stations, is accused by the victim of failing to intervene to stop the attacker remaining in post as the lifeboat station’s stand-in coxswain for three days after the assault.
The attacker was only suspended after a refusal by some members of the crew to serve on the lifeboat until he had been stood down. This threat was relayed to the RNLI’s head of the region. The attacker was later fined by the police and given a caution for assault by beating, and ordered to complete a “diversionary course”. He resigned as a volunteer in January before a disciplinary hearing could take place.
The manager remains in post, where he is responsible for several lifeboat stations and dozens of crew.
The victim, who had been a volunteer for 12 years, resigned in protest against the RNLI’s handling of what he said was a “hate-filled attack” and its aftermath. Speaking to the Guardian, he said: “I spent days and days with a broken nose trying to get management to listen to me. They weren’t interested, they just wanted me to shut up.”
As part of an internal complaint about the incident, he supplied screengrabs of a WhatsApp group that the manager, the attacker and other RNLI volunteers were all members of. They purported to show that the attacker posted abusive, homophobic and pornographic material to the group without challenge.
The complainant accused the RNLI and the manager of doing nothing to tackle a “vile old boys” working culture. “The reason why I was assaulted was because I worked in the Mediterranean as a commander on migrant search and rescue boats,” he said.
His call for a full investigation into the working culture at the station was rejected by the RNLI. “I think the reason they are refusing to investigate is that they are worried what they will find. It all stems from a whole attitude of being salty sea dogs – that’s the kind of people they want in the organisation,” he said.
A spokesperson for the RNLI said it had been made aware of the incident, and added: “We took the necessary robust action, standing down a volunteer and holding a thorough investigation. The volunteer left the RNLI permanently in January 2023.
“The RNLI is confident that all appropriate actions were taken in relation to this incident. Acknowledging our duty of care and confidentiality to all individuals involved, it is not appropriate to disclose further details in relation to this matter.”
The attacker and the manager have both been approached for comment.
In last year’s RNLI staff survey, which was completed before the assault and was leaked to the Guardian, one responder said: “The RNLI has a culture of bullying and harassment. Institutional responses to reports of bullying and harassment are reflexively defensive and ineffective.
“Poor behaviour is not addressed, in part because of a management culture of bureaucratic incompetence in which loyalty to those with power is treated as more important than adherence to the institution’s stated values and mission and policies.”
