Proud to be INDEPENDENT since 1970
PLIRB was founded in 1970 and received charity status in 1971. We serve the local coastline and inland waters between Camber and Hastings.
We operate from a custom-built boathouse and crew room in Pett Level, East Sussex. Our base is home to our lookout / control room, our two RIB rescue boats and our launch vehicle.
We operate 24/7 and 365 days a year – our volunteer crew are always on call.
We are a completely INDEPENDENT lifeboat service and not affiliated to RNLI or UK Coastguard. We receive NO public funding and are entirely self-funded and self-managed.
Proud to serve with local emergency services
We work in close collaboration with our neighbouring RNLI stations, HM Coastguard, Coastguard Helicopter, Police, Ambulance and other emergency services.
We train twice a week, all year round, to ensure we are prepared, skilled, competent and confident to effectively and professionally deal with any incident we are tasked to support.
We have a fantastic response time of under 15 minutes, day or night, thanks to our local volunteer base.
We provide the same vital emergency lifeboat services as the RNLI – but operate entirely independently.
Proud to serve our local community
As an independent lifeboat charity, we are proud to be a member of the National Independent Lifeboat Association.
Like other independent lifeboats, we receive no public or central funding and are responsible for raising all our own funds.
On average, our volunteers donate over 14,000 hours a year in training, taskings, maintenance, fundraising and other operational activities,
We rely on the generous donations from our community and local organisations, grants and fundraising events and activities. Every volunteer gets involved in helping PLIRB to generate the funds we need to operate and train.