A MAN in a toy dinghy was rescued after drifting a mile offshore towards a windfarm last night.

The wind and tide carried the man, who had climbed into the child's inflatable boat despite not fitting in it, towards the Teesside wind farm off the coast of Redcar.

The RNLI was called out at about 7.30pm and launched its inshore lifeboat, which found the man, wearing a hoodie and shorts, desperately attempting to paddle in vain against the wind and tidal currents. However, he was drifting even further out to sea.

He was rescued and taken on board the lifeboat before being returned to the beach where a coastguard team was waiting to give him safety advice.

Dave Cocks, Lifeboat Operations Manager at Redcar RNLI said: "This is a good example of the types of incident we repeatedly warn people about.

"It was a reasonably pleasant evening but the wind and tide were a recipe for this to happen.

"We believe the man was in his 30s. He was dressed in only a hoodie and shorts, and he didn't even fit in the toy dinghy.

"If the alarm hadn't been raised there was every likelihood he'd have drifted out of sight of land and we could well have been bringing a dead body back."

The RNLI's Respect The Water campaign focuses on the dangers the sea can present, and in particular the effects of cold water are being highlighted. For more information on sea safety and the Respect The Water campaign, visit rnli.org.