ABOUT 200 people have signed a petition in support of Cleethorpes Lifeboat crew who fear they will have to pay to park when on call for emergencies.
Lifeboat bosses say the council has previously allowed its 28 crew members to park in public bays next to the station at Brighton Slipway for free, as long as they displayed their RNLI crew stickers.
However, the Grimsby Telegraph understands this was an informal arrangement and the council says it cannot justify allowing so many vehicles to park for nothing.
However, council bosses insist they will never seek to charge on-call RNLI crew, and are currently exploring options to resolve the situation to everyone's satisfaction.
Jack Barlow, operations manager for Cleethorpes Lifeboat, told the Grimsby Telegraph that the lifeboat station has only three dedicated parking spaces for the 28 crew – as well as three other spaces reserved for the tractor, trailer and boat – but added there was generally no more than seven or eight crew at the station at any one time. He said he was hopeful the situation would be resolved soon.
However, Cleethorpes resident and former Liberal Democrat councillor Peter Burgess believes the council should leave things as they are, and has started a petition asking for the current arrangement to continue.
Mr Burgess, of Cambridge Street, said: "I live round the corner and I know most of the lifeboat lads and it came to my attention that they had been told to submit their registration numbers to get a parking permit.
"This is common sense gone wrong. Historically the crew showed their RNLI sticker and that has always sufficed, so what's the problem now?
"Of all the amenities and resources in North East Lincolnshire, the RNLI has got to be the best value for money, because all it costs is a few council parking spaces.
"The guys already give up their time. Why should they have to go through this bureaucratic process? The council should trust the guys running the lifeboats to distribute the stickers and get on with it."
Mr Barlow said the previous arrangement had worked well until a couple of weeks ago when a traffic warden told crew that they could only park in their designated bays.
He said council deputy leader Mick Burnett had told him all crew would be issued with electronic permits, only to be told by a parking officer that the 28 requested was too many.
Mr Barlow said: "It is absolutely ridiculous. It is just annoying that we are being threatened in this way. We have never had anyone tell us we shouldn't be parking here. We are an emergency service."
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