Sick OAP sailor slams Lancaster port bosses who he says 'put his life in danger by refusing him safe haven'

Alan Thomas, a former pilot coxswain at Glasson Dock who’s sailed the River Lune for 60 years, has slammed Lancaster Port Commission for the way he was treated.

Mr Thomas, 77, requested safe haven at Glasson after sailing singlehandedly from Whitehaven.

Problems with his yacht forced him to be at the helm for six hours without food or drink.

After only three hours sleep, and just weeks after recovering from Covid, Mr Thomas – who has a heart condition – was feeling weak but being a marine paramedic, he felt safe enough to continue.

He said he’d been given prior permission to keep his vessel in Glasson marina, nearer to his Skerton home.

On approaching Glasson, he radioed for 45 minutes to advise of his arrival but had no response although he later discovered the marina had sent a text which he didn’t hear.

Radio contact was eventually made 200 yards from the lock gate but he was refused entry owing to a training exercise.

“I said: ‘I'm not well. I got very little sleep in the last 48 hours. I've got a bad heart and I need help’.”

Mr Thomas claims he was told to return to sea which could have forced his yacht aground so he was asked to tie up at the yacht club instead, another move which might have put his vessel in danger.

It was then that Mr Thomas asked for ‘safe haven’ but says he was told Glasson wasn’t a safe haven.

“Under Maritime Law if you claim safe haven they are supposed to give you every assistance and help that you require. What I got was the opposite.”

Despite being denied safe haven, Mr Thomas remained there until he could set sail for Fleetwood where his yacht moored 24 hours after first arriving at Glasson.

“As a born and bred Lancashire man who lives in Lancaster, you’d think I’d be able to go into the port of Lancaster but, as it turned out, my life and my vessel were put in danger.”

A group of Glasson residents are now supporting Mr Thomas.

Friends of Railway Place chair, Dave Maddocks, said: “Mr Thomas is a highly respected mariner and he is in no doubt that Glasson Dock is rapidly becoming a pariah in the sailing community on the North West coast which is driving away potential business to other ports.”

A letter outlining Mr Thomas’s concerns has been sent to Marine and Coastguard Agency, Department of Transport, Lancashire Police, county and parish councillors.

Lancaster Port Commission manager, Craig Beattie, said: “ I understand Mr Thomas had already booked in through our normal system to gain access to the dock on the following day. On the day he did turn up, the port was undertaking a statutory oil spill exercise and it was not possible to open the dock gate to give him access. This was clearly and politely explained and when port staff went to check on him in the evening, he had removed the vessel.”

Mr Beattie added the Port Commission would be happy to deal with any of Mr Thomas’s outstanding queries.