A VOLUNTEER North Lancashire life boat crew has bucked the national trend with statistics showing a near 50 per cent reduction in demand for its services.

The RNLI recorded that Morecambe’s inshore lifeboat and inshore rescue hovercraft launched 23 times in 2016, rescuing 13 people. This compares to 41 launches and 24 people rescued in 2015.

Morecambe RNLI spokesman Colin Midwinter said he believed there was a number of factors that would have brought about the reduction.

"Traditionally the weather, particularly during holiday periods, makes a difference," he said. "Undoubtedly HM Coastguards’ utilisation of alternative resources, such as Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service and their partners Bay Search and Rescue Service, rather than ourselves has also had an impact."

In the north of England there was an increase in the number of lifeboat launches to people who got into difficulty ashore, with incidents rising from 240 in 2015 to 278 in 2016.

These figures come just weeks after The Westmorland Gazette relaunched its Safety on the Sands campaign, aiming to raise awareness of the dangers to be found along the shoreline.

Mr Midwinter anticipated that the team would get busier during and after the Easter period as the weather improved.

"Check the time and the tides," Mr Midwinter advised. "Check the height of the tide because that will give you an indication of how fast it's coming in.

"Stick to the footpath rather than just go wandering off and make sure somebody knows where you are going."

Although Morecambe saw a reduction, the north of England lifeboats were launched more than 1,000 times in 2016 compared to 954 in 2015.

And the charity’s lifeguards on 38 beaches in the north saw an increase in the incidents that they attended, there being 2,398 in 2016 compared to 2,065 in 2015.

Nationally, the number of lifeboat launches around the coast has increased to a five year high of 8,851 in 2016 and lifeguard incidents have also increased to 17,414.

"Our advice is to not go too far," Mr Midwinter said. "In Morecambe Bay you cannot be sure where the quicksand is going to be as it's constantly on the move, so it's a matter of taking care.

"I would not go out wandering in Morecambe Bay unless I had got Cedric Robinson (the Queen's Guide to the Sands) with me."