Don’t believe everything you read, the RNLI advises, after the lifesaving charity was forced to debunk claims it was recently billed for an inflatable toy lost during the rescue of a child.
According to The Independent, there appear to have been some crossed wires after an RNLI event in Britain’s south west at the weekend at which an anecdote from the 1980s was recounted.
The alleged story of how the family of a girl rescued from the water off Porthleven in Cornwall sent an invoice for £7 for the girl’s missing lilo was reported as a recent incident by a number of news outlets.
The story came with a sting in the tale for the family in question, with the alleged response from the lifesavers being the suggestion of a bill of their own for the £7,000 cost of the rescue.
But the RNLI has since been moved to clarify that the incident took place more than three decades ago, if it ever took place at all.
The Independent has more on the story HERE.