A £1.2M lifeboat will begin her service in the North-East today.

Hartlepool's new lifeboat, The Betty Huntbach, will be stationed at the town's RNLI lifeboat station, but will have to cover as far north as Sunderland.

Staff at Sunderland Lifeboat station were told in July that they were to lose their all-weather lifeboat, which means the new boat at Hartlepool, which has a top speed of 25 knots, will cover from the Tees Bay to Sunderland.

Hartlepool lifeboat operations manager Mike Craddy said: "Everyone is excited and sees this as a new chapter in the station's 200-year history of saving lives at sea."

Six of the lifeboat crew spent a week at the RNLI's Lifeboat College in Dorset to train on the new boat before sailing her back to Hartlepool.

The Betty Huntbatch was built last year and until it arrived in Hartlepool, was part of the RNLI's relief fleet. It has been funded by a legacy from Betty Huntbatch, a long-time supporter of the RNLI from Essex, who died in 2002.

Sunderland has a new lifeboat but, unlike The Betty Huntbatch, it is not an offshore vessel, which means it will not be allowed to travel long distances.

RNLI managers said the boat will still be able to respond to 92 per cent of all emergencies.

The Betty Huntbach will be stationed near the Princess Royal lifeboat, which served Hartlepool from 1939 to 1968, and was unveiled last week as a floating museum following a £50,000, five-year restoration.