RNLI volunteer with 57 years of service told to resign or be fired

‘We worked with the National Crime Agency, Ferrari and international car dealerships’

AN RNLI volunteer with 57 years of service was told by bosses to resign or face the sack, it has been claimed.

Philip Oxley, 75, joined Walton and Frinton lifeboat station at Walton-onthe-naze, in Essex, at the age of 17 and hails from a seafaring family, with his late father serving there from 1960 to 1980 and his 55-year-old son dedicating much of his life to the rescue charity.

But he now feels “devastated” after he and his son were forced out, despite three generations of the Oxley family giving 114 years of service.

It is the latest row to hit the charity as it marked its 200th anniversary on Monday. The charity has faced a series of current and historical claims of acrimony at stations, bullying and a toxic management culture in recent days.

The Walton and Frinton station has been sent into disarray by controversial plans to replace the 48-foot Tamar-class lifeboat, which has capacity for 120 casualties, with a D-class dinghy, which has capacity for just six casualties and cannot tow other vessels.

Mr Oxley was critical of the move, which led to RNLI bosses telling him he was being “stood down” for breaching the charity’s volunteer code of conduct, and that the relationship between them had “broken down irreconcilably”, according to a letter seen by the BBC.

“Because I was so critical they asked me to resign or be sacked, and I wasn’t going to resign after 57 years,” he said.

“I feel devastated, I suppose. I am very disappointed they’ve not listened to us. I feel very lost and very disappointed. It’s been my life, really.”

He said the change would leave rescuers unable to attend distress calls in all weather conditions for the first time in the station’s 140-year history. However, the RNLI says an all-weather lifeboat would remain seven miles down the coast at Clacton.

The family has also been hit with a second blow at the station, as Mr Oxley’s son Stewart, 55, was stood down by bosses last June as lifeboat operations manager after an internal review found he had breached the volunteers’ code of conduct. He, too, had been vocal in criticising the boat replacement.

The crew’s coxswain and four other long-serving rescuers have also walked away from the station.

An RNLI spokesman said the D-class dinghy saved more lives in 2022 than any other type of vessel and modelling showed it would improve the response for that stretch of coast.