A COASTGUARD helicopter was forced to rescue passengers who refused to return to their charter vessel on St Kilda, yesterday.

The six refused to board the boat after several alleged incidents in which they claimed that Harris-based skipper Robert Stephenson, 39, was ''unfit'' and put them at risk.

The skipper, of Scott Road, Tarbert, who runs Rosa Hebridean Cruises, last night rejected the criticism and described his passengers as ''landlubbers''.

The cruise on the 60ft Spanish-built Eilean na Hearadh (Isle of Harris) set off from East Loch Tarbert, in Harris, on Thursday night, with Stornoway-based freelance television cameraman Ged Yeates, 39, holidaymakers Paul Croft, wife Ann and their son Clint, and Mr John Morrison and Ms Sheila Roderick, from Scalpay, near Harris.

They were each said to be paying paying #90 a day for the three-day trip.

Mr Yeates said that conditions on board were poor, with no-one to cook and a general lack of hygiene.

''To get ashore on St Kilda we had to use an old dinghy that kept filling with water and had to use a floorboard for an oar,'' said the cameraman.

Although they were due to leave the island at 6pm on Saturday, he said the skipper had decided to stay in the Puff Inn.

''On Sunday, he was not on board and the wind had got up in the night and the boat was dragging her anchor. We were heading towards the shore but there was no sign of the skipper. We were all extremely scared.

''He was eventually found asleep in one of the rooms.''

When they did finally set sail, huge waves began to buffet the boat and equipment began to smash as it pitched and rolled, nearly capsizing twice, said Manchester-born Mr Yeates.

''A large, heavy air compressor was rolling around and could have killed someone. Eventually the skipper turned back, but we had had enough.

''We had lost all confidence in him by then,'' he said.

Police liaising with the Marine Safety Agency met the rescue helicopter when it arrived at Stornoway Airport and interviewed the six passengers.

After arriving back on Harris on his own in the Eilean na Hearadh last night, Mr Stephenson, a former fisherman, said he had made many successful trips to St Kilda since 1996.

He denied he was drunk or ''missing'' but added that impression could have been because he had got a rusty nail in his foot.

''I had to be treated by the nurse out there and had to have tetanus injections,'' he said.

He added: ''Three of the six passengers had really bad sea sickness on the way out.

''When we set sail from St Kilda the swell was far too much for them. The woman and the cameramen were not up to it.

''These passengers were landlubbers and should not really have been on the trip.''

A police statement said the circumstances of the trip were to be investigated by the Marine Safety Agency.