A charity rowing crew raising money for for motor neurone disease was contacted by the coastguard near Great Yarmouth after a local MP mistook them for “illegal migrants”.
Rupert Lowe, elected as a Reform UK MP but now sitting as an Independent, posted a picture on social media on Thursday night showing a boat near some wind turbines off the Norfolk coast.
He wrote: “Dinghies coming into Great Yarmouth, RIGHT NOW.
“Authorities alerted, and I am urgently chasing. If these are illegal migrants, I will be using every tool at my disposal to ensure these individuals are deported.
“Enough is enough. Britain needs mass deportations. NOW.”
But the vessel pictured was an ocean rowing boat crewed by ROW4MND, a team of four who are attempting to row from Land’s End to John O’Groats to raise money for motor neurone disease (MND).
The crew – Matthew Parker, Mike Bates, Aaron Kneebone and Liz Wardley – said they had been contacted by the coastguard and asked if they could see a dinghy nearby.
Mr Bates, a former Royal Marine and British record holder for rowing across the Atlantic solo, told the PA news agency: “I looked to my right and there was maybe a dozen individuals stood on the shoreline staring at us.”
After satisfying the coastguard that their boat was not carrying migrants, they continued, but several hours later they were contacted again, after police “asked if they could send a lifeboat out to check who we were”.
Eventually, a friend forwarded Mr Lowe’s post, which Mr Bates said provided “a moment of light relief”.
He said: “We found it hilarious. I’ve not been mistaken for a migrant before.
“The best comment was the one asking where the Royal Navy were when you need them. I’m a former Royal Marine, so the Royal Navy were on the boat.”
He added: “But it was almost like a vigilante-style, people following us down the beach. They hadn’t twigged that we were parallel to the shore for hours and not trying to land.”
The quartet set off from Land’s End on 25 July and initially headed north into the Irish Sea before bad weather forced them to stop at Milford Haven in Wales.
They then decided to return to Land’s End and start again, this time heading in the other direction, which Mr Bates said had been “about us showing resolve and resilience and hope”.
The journey is the first of four challenges over four years, with the group aiming to row from John O’Groats to Land’s End next year, from California to Hawaii in 2027 and New York to London in 2028, with a target of raising £57m for MND research.
So far, they have raised £107,515 for the charity.
Mr Bates said: “We’re rowing for hope, we’re rowing to find a cure, and hopefully we’ll raise £57m.
“We certainly will if MPs keep talking about us. Maybe Rupert will give us a donation.”
A spokesperson for ROW4MND said: “The crew are quite clearly an ocean rowing team, and no one was more surprised to be contacted by the coastguard than Matt, Mike, Aaron and Liz. Over the past two weeks they have faced big waves, high winds, route changes and Storm Floris, but being shopped as illegal immigrants by a sitting Member of Parliament really takes the biscuit.”
“The crew’s mission is to raise awareness of the disease, which will affect one in every 300 people over a lifetime, as well as raising funds to find a cure. It is said that all publicity is good publicity, but in this instance, the crew would like to be allowed to get on with their epic challenge, rather than having to respond to posts on Instagram.
“That said, the crew would like to personally thank Rupert Lowe MP for increasing the profile of the ROW4MND project immeasurably.”
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