Small boats Charity rowers reported by MP

The independent MP Rupert Lowe has agreed to donate £1,000 to a charity after mistaking its rowing crew, including a former Royal Marine, for possible "illegal migrants".

- Kevin Rawlinson

Lowe, who was elected as a Reform MP for Great Yarmouth but now sits as an independent, said he had shopped the crew to the authorities and vowed to have them deported if they turned out to be what he suspected.

Instead, it turned out they were the four-person crew of an ocean rowing boat, who were off Great Yarmouth as they attempted to row from Land's End to John o'Groats to raise funding and awareness for motor neurone disease (MND).

Lowe posted a picture on social media on Thursday evening showing the boat near wind turbines off the Norfolk coast.