Hayling ferry left out of pocket as customers stranded when migrants brought ashore at "unsuitable" harbour
The ferry service was abruptly halted
A Hayling Island ferry company was left out of pocket after being ordered to stay away from Eastney as migrants were brought ashore on Sunday - leaving people stranded.
Colin Hill, who runs the Hayling ferry to Eastney, said they lost half a day’s worth of money after being ordered to remain in Hayling on Sunday afternoon as people were left marooned.
He said the service was abruptly halted by Border Force with them losing business over what he described as an “illegal entry into the UK” with a “pre-arranged” journey.
The controversial decision to bring the 120 asylum seekers to Portsmouth - which was slammed by Portsmouth City Council leader Steve Pitt as putting people “at risk” - sparked protests with balaclava-clad protesters attempting to prevent them from entering the city following their arrival around 5.30pm.
As tensions rose in the area, multiple police officers - including riot police - attended the scene, with reports confirming seven were assaulted during the incident.
The Hayling ferry was left in limbo for hours after suddenly being told to stay away from the Eastney pontoon as the migrants were brought ashore - with locals reporting tents and coaches being in place for their arrival.
Mr Hill said of the impact it had on the ferry service: “Border Force said you are not allowed to use (Eastney) pontoon - I don’t know what power they’ve got to do that. It stopped the ferry full stop. We had people stuck over (at Hayling) so in the end we had to go around to Southsea Marina.
“It's a totally unsuitable harbour to bring migrants into. There’s only one way in and one way out with the road. There was no plan B to get the migrants away.
“It definitely disrupted our business because we had to stop running the ferry. That’s why a commercial pontoon like this is not suitable.”
Mr Hill went on to say the ferry was put out of service by a "pre-arranged pick-up”. He said: “All the mobilisation of the tents and coaches doesn’t happen in 10 minutes. I don’t like the whole idea of it being a pre-arranged pick-up. The (RNLI) are there to save lives. If (the migrants) were in danger why didn’t the French take them on their boats?
“The French could have stopped it on their waters. I think facilitating an illegal entry into the UK is a criminal offence. If there’s no May Day call then what are the lifeboats doing out there in the first place? They wouldn’t have just gone out there just by chance.
“So they were obviously asked to go and pick them up. Legally I’m not sure if that is acceptable.
“It needs looking at. It’s obviously not the lifeboats' faults, they’re just volunteers. It’s higher up the chain. There could be criminal offences.
“Facilitating illegal entry into the UK is a criminal offence and to me the lifeboats weren’t there for no reason, there was no May Day so what were they doing there?
“It was pre-arranged. It was a collection service not a rescue. I’m pretty sure that is illegal.”
The RNLI has come under fire for its role with a hate campaign launched online and the charity revealing some of its volunteers have been physically assaulted. Two police vehicles were positioned on Tuesday outside the RNLI’s Eastney base as a preventative measure over potential “public order incidents”.
Peter Sparkes, chief executive of the charity, said: “Our mission, and our tasking is to rescue those women, children and men in danger of drowning. Anyone rescued from a small boat by the RNLI is immediately handed over to the UK’s immigration authorities. Illegal immigration is a political issue; the RNLI exists to save lives at sea.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “This government is doing the hard and necessary work of bearing down on small boat crossings, with the lowest number of June to August arrivals since 2020.”