6:07pm Sunday 27th April 2008
By Graeme Hetherington
LIFEBOAT crew rescued four people when they towed their broken down boat back to shore.
The alarm was raised when one of the crew made a mobile telephone call asking for help just before 2pm on Saturday.
The 17 foot boat broke down between Marske and Saltburn and the Redcar RNLI lifeboat Leicester Challenge 2 quickly located the craft and towed it to safety at the Granville Terrace slipway on Redcar sea front.
Tony Jamieson, RNLI Sea Safety Officer for Redcar said: "Using a mobile phone at sea to raise the alarm when a person is in trouble is very risky. The mobile phone networks are designed to send and receive on land and there are a lot of blindspots where you can't get a signal off the coast.
"On this occasion the crew of the broken down boat were lucky and managed to get a signal. The basic equipment any boat should carry is lifejackets, distress flares and a marine VHF radio to raise the alarm.
"Using a VHF radio means the lifeboats and coastguard can use direction-finding equipment to pinpoint the position of the vessel in trouble.
"A marine VHF radio can cost less than one hundred pounds, but that's nothing compare to the cost of a life."
Free boat safety checks can be arranged by contacting the Redcar lifeboat station on 01642-484491.
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