Southend has busiest lifeboat in UK (From Southend Standard)

Southend has busiest lifeboat in UK

12:00pm Monday 24th September 2012 in Echo News By Michelle Archard

SOUTHEND was the busiest coastal lifeboat station in the UK with 71 callouts this summer.

Volunteer crew members at Southend launched 71 times in the period from June 1 to August 31, a 40 per cent increase on the 51 shouts over the same period last year.

Out of more than 230 coastal RNLI stations Southend topped the table. The lifeboat responded to most calls with 58 calls and the inshore hovercraft attended 13.

The only two RNLI stations that were busier than Southend were both inshore on the Thames in London. Tower base by Waterloo Bridge launched 160 times followed by Chiswick with 73 launches.

The high number of rescues of both swimmers and boats has been put down to the weather.