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August
8, 2004
The lifeboat's trailer became stuck when it was unable to be moved between a carelessly parked trade van and a saloon car without causing damage. Police were called and a community service officer authorised the moving of one of the vehicles, sufficient enough to allow the trailer to be moved through.
He added: "Parked vehicles causing obstruction are adding vital minutes to what could be lifesaving journeys. If a vehicle obstructs access to an emergency vehicle, police are able to authorise its removal, resulting in costs to the owner of the vehicle in excess of £100."
Although today's incident was during a recovery operation, considerable delay of the boat being refuelled and returned to service was experienced. This story resulted in plenty of media attention for the Burnham-On-Sea RNLI, as reported here.
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Burnham-On-Sea
RNLI's lifeboat was prevented from returning to its station by motorists'
careless parking in the road outside the station. 
Stuart
Nichols, a spokesman for Avon and Somerset Police, said: "People
who park irresponsibly, and cause obstruction to emergency services
and other vehicles are liable to prosecution and may have their vehicles
removed. The RNLI are an emergency service and should not have their
access jeopardised by careless parking."
Gerry
Prout, a Burnham-On-Sea RNLI 'DLA' officer, said: "People are always
parking in the road, despite signs asking them not to do so. This can
cause serious delay to an urgent lifeboat launch."