Very busy year for Yorkshire Coastguards with rise in call-outs

Coastguards have been reflecting on this year

Author: Karen LiuPublished 27th Dec 2022

There has been a trend in people getting into trouble by not being familiar with the Yorkshire Coastline.

The Coastguard has been reflecting on this year saying there has been a lot more incidents about being cut off by the tide than previously.

Fran Wilkins, senior coastal operations officer, said: "We've been very busy again, kind of similiar to last year, we definitely saw a rise in incident numbers during the summer holidays and the other sort of holiday periods over the year. It does seem that the increase of people staying in the UK for a holiday has continued so there has been that concentration of people coming to the coast.

"I think what we are seeing is definitely a trend of people who perhaps aren't as familiar as the UK coastline and the hazards that presents compared to different areas they might have previously been on holiday to. We've seen more people cut off by the tide generally than we have done in previous years. People getting injured you can't help things like that and we'd just encourage them to call for help.

"Missing children is always a difficult one in the summer, we definitely see an increase in that and that's the same every single year. We just really encourage parents to keep an eye on their children, know where they're going and set times for when they're supposed to be back. Just really keep an eye on them around the water because it only takes a few seconds to lose sight of them and in that period of time a lot can go wrong.

"Take a few minutes before you set off to just look at what it is you're going to do; whether you're walking the coast, whether you're going along the bottom or top of cliffs, make sure you know where you can get on and off the beach, check tide times, make sure you check you have the right equipment and the right shoes because wearing flip flops up and down cliff top paths don't really work very well.

"Just make sure you're really prepared for what you're going to do. When it's cold like this, wrap up warm and always have a means of being able to call for help whether you're on the water or on land and it's a mobile phone with battery and knowing where you are and who to call. It's 999 and ask for the Coastguard, tell us where you are and what's wrong and someone will come out 24/7 and help you."

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