COASTAL communities have voiced their support of volunteer lifeboat crew members who have been “stood down” following investigations into wrongdoing.

Two Whitby RNLI crew members have been let go and four others have resigned after mugs of an allegedly sexual nature were discovered when an RNLI boss visited the lifeboat station.

Whitby residents have been quick to get behind the crew members, named locally as Ben Laws and Joe Winspear, with Whitby resident Kevin Close of Turvey Tattoos putting a sign in his window ridiculing the decision.

The mug appears to show the superimposed head of Joe Winspear on the body of a naked woman, which had apparently been sent as a joke secret Santa present.

But a spokeswoman from RNLI said the investigation was “about much more than saucy mugs” but said for legal reasons could not say any more.

Mr Close said: “I’m a regular supporter of the lifeboat crews, and I know some of them personally.

“They are absolutely gutted. This is all just a storm in a teacup.”

The loss of six men from the Whitby crew comes just months after the RNLI dismissed Scarborough lifeboat coxswain of 35 years Tom Clark MBE after they said he had led an “unauthorised” training exercise.

Three other crew members resigned in protest, and an online petition to reinstate him has gained almost 5,000 signatures.

Chris Steele, a former Scarborough crewmember, said Mr Clark had done nothing wrong and the RNLI had lost hundreds of years’ worth of experience in losing the men.

He said: “It was an authorised trip and the boat was never more than a mile offshore. Every year we have a Lifeboat Day which sees the Mayor taken out on the boat, and in the last six months he was regularly told to take people out and it was never taken out of service.These activities have been going on but RNLI decided Tom should be sacked.”

A spokeswoman for RNLI said: "Following an investigation at Whitby, two volunteers have been stood down. They have the right to challenge this and we are waiting to hear if they wish to do so. Four other people have resigned.

"For legal reasons and given the crew members have a right of appeal it is not appropriate to say more however we can confirm the investigation focussed on the production of inappropriate material of a sexual nature and associated social media activity directed at an RNLI staff member.

"We are aware of speculation about the issue on social media but we want to stress that this was not a trivial matter."

"Scarborough’s coxswain was stood down for serious safety breaches that put lives at risk."

"The coxswain led an unofficial exercise with untrained passengers on board and without enough qualified crew members. From the investigation evidence, it is also clear that the untrained passengers on board were given operational control of the lifeboat in poor weather conditions and strong winds."