Sea safety urged ahead of strike

People going to the seaside this bank holiday weekend have been urged to take extra care as coastguard staff go on a 48-hour strike over pay.

Staff taking emergency calls in coastguard stations around the UK will strike from Saturday to Monday. Rescue teams will operate as normal.

The Public and Commercial Services Union says its members are taking the action reluctantly.

It is the third strike by coastguard staff this year.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) said the weekend will be busier than normal and asked people to take extra care while on the sea, beach or cliffs.

The MCA also urged people planning to go sailing to "think carefully about their plans and to make sure they are aware of standard safety advice before considering going afloat this weekend."

Owen Medland from the RNLI, which works closely with the coastguard, said there should not be any effect on its services in Northern Ireland.

"The RNLI have reviewed our ability to ensure that the lifeboats get to sea in a timely manner," he said.

"We retain the ability to self-launch all our lifeboats.

"So stations become aware then the lifeboats will be out and using very sophisticated paging systems which we now have in place."