Tower Lifeboat Station

Infobox London River Services
title=Tower Lifeboat Station

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image_caption = The lifeboat station next to Waterloo Bridge
transit_type = River police and lifeboat services
operator = RNLI
owner =RNLI
website = http://www.natoli.co.uk/rnli/index.htmThe Tower Lifeboat Station is a lifeboat station on the River Thames in London, UK, operated by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. It is located at Victoria Embankment on the North Bank of the Thames, next to Waterloo Bridge.

The pier takes its name from the original RNLI lifeboat station which opened in 2002 further downstream at Tower Pier, next to the Tower of London. The lifeboat station moved to its present location in 2006.cite web
url = http://www.natoli.co.uk/rnli/station.htm
title = Our Station
accessdate = 2008-05-14
author = RNLI
date = 2006
work = Tower Lifeboat Station website] The pier in use today is the former Waterloo Police Pier.

The RNLI provides a lifeboat service to boats on the River Thames, including the regular commuter and leisure services managed by London River Services, part of Transport for London. The RNLI rescue service is independent of TfL. Scheduled river bus services do not stop at the lifeboat pier, and it is not open to public.

History

The Thames has a long history of accidents and collisions, and the river claims a number of lives each year. As a result of the Marchioness disaster in 1989 when 51 people died, the Government asked the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, the Port of London Authority and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) to work together to set up a dedicated search and rescue service for the tidal River Thames. As a result, the RNLI began operations on the Thames. [cite web
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/1739401.stm
title = Thames lifeboat service launched
accessdate = 2008-05-14
author = BBC News
date = 2002-01-02]

Initially the lifeboat service started at Tower Pier Lifeboat Station, which was officially opened on 2 January 2002. In 2004 the RNLI purchased the old Waterloo Police Pier and refurbished it for use as a lifeboat station. The new station was opened on 8th May 2006 by Sir Kevin Tebbit, Chairman of the Lifeboat Fund.

There are four lifeboat stations on the River Thames based at Teddington, Chiswick Pier, Tower Lifeboat Station and Gravesend.

References