THE coastguard has repeated a warning over the dangers of wave dodging after thrill seekers risked their lives during strong spring tides.

Despite the waves hurling rocks into a seafront car park at Saltburn, east Cleveland, spectators are balancing on walls and fence tops watching the breakers - each equivalent to a ton of water.

Then they jump down from their perilous perches just in the nick of time.

Even where the shore has been cordoned off for safety reasons, people are stepping over guard ropes to take photographs of the sea.

Coastguards say people are dicing with death - including a father wave dodging with his two young sons.

A spokesman said last night: "We have witnessed over the last two to three days big spring tides which have been acting like a magnet, drawing people down.

"We have people coming and standing on fences and walls on the seashore at Saltburn, where the pier was closed for a couple of days because of the tides and the rocks the water is throwing everywhere."

Last year, rocks thrown up by the breakers smashed through the windscreens of cars in a seafront car park.

The spokesman said: "If you get struck by one of these rocks and then dragged into the sea by a ton of falling water, you will not last more than a couple of minutes in these cold temperatures.

"What we are trying to do is try and educate people before it is too late."