British beaches are not safe to surf

With record numbers scrapping foreign holidays and heading for sun-baked British beaches, more people face the prospect of drowning because of poor rescue equipment and a lack of lifeguards.

A surge of interest in watersports has exposed lethal weaknesses in seaside rescue equipment, some of which is so bad it can actually hinder attempts to rescue people.

The issue is highlighted by new statistics that reveal the true scale of water-related deaths in Britain - almost half of which take place on or near beaches. There were 681 such deaths in Britain in 2005, some 435 of which were accidental drownings, according to the National Water Safety Forum.

Peter Cornall, leisure safety manager at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (Rospa), said: "A lot of beaches have not got the right gear and the people that run our beaches need to carry out proper risk assessments."

Steve Willis, beach safety manager at the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) and author of the first report on beach safety, called for urgent action: "Most of the equipment around the UK is not effective. Most of it is designed to be used on board ships and is not fit for purpose in many cases."

Life-rings designed to be dropped from ships are commonplace and can be too heavy to throw. Some are anchored to safety lines that break or may not even reach the water.

Safety experts have also warned that cuts in lifeguard numbers put lives at risk. Advancement in wetsuit technology, for example, means that surfers are able to enjoy their sport all year round. Global warming is attracting sunbathers to British seaside resorts earlier in the season.

However, there is no legal obligation for councils to pay for lifeguards. This has created a postcode lottery with some beaches having adequate cover and others none at all. A large number of beaches are privately owned and some cash-strapped councils have withdrawn funding on the understanding that the landowner will provide lifeguards, only for them to refuse. This has happened in Devon on beaches such as Saunton Sands and Woolacombe.

Julia Goldsworthy, MP for Falmouth and Cam-borne, is calling on ministers to make lifeguard cover at the very least a requirement on public beaches. "People can't be sure about what sort of service they are going to get when they take a holiday," she said.

In May, the RNLI is to launch what will be its biggest-ever beach safety campaign in response to the crisis. The Beachwise campaign aims to get the public to visit safe beaches where there are qualified and equipped lifeguards, meaning swimmers are 500 times less likely to drown.

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