The girl was rescued and brought ashore. But within hours the Hope Cove boat had been confiscated and the station officer and his crew had been threatened with disciplinary action.

The boat had been out of service since June and the 11-strong crew, fed up with waiting for it to be repaired by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), spent £2,000 of their own money on the work. But the repairs had yet to be approved and the boat - which has rescued more than 120 people since 2000 – was languishing in the boathouse at the fishing village awaiting a further inspection.

Station officer Ian Pedrick radioed for permission to launch the boat as the girl was being swept out to sea, but lost contact with coastguard headquarters at Brixham. The Coastguard volunteers went ahead with the rescue. But within three hours the boat was towed away by a senior MCA officer and is now locked in a garage in Kingsbridge.

'Everyone in the village is very angry. They feel the crew are being punished for trying to save a life,' said recently retired coastguard Dave Clark. 'When the MCA withdrew the boat in June they said it would be for six weeks but the crew wanted it back as soon as possible so they paid for the repairs themselves.

'They were then told it had to stay off service until it was surveyed and that would have taken it out for the whole of the summer season. Anyone would have done the same thing when they saw the girl in trouble.'

A spokesman for the MCA said the health and safety of the boat crews and those who they may render assistance to is of paramount importance. 'We have identified serious breaches of health and safety procedures and they are currently being investigated,' said the spokesman. 'The boat has been stood down for a further eight weeks while we investigate the possibility of repair or replacement.'