South Shields rescue team alerted after reports of man struggling in River Tyne

South Shields Volunteer Life Brigade members were about to head along the River Tyne towards Hebburn until they received a second message to say that the male was in police care.

The alarm was raised around 10pm on Saturday, November 7, and Tom Fennelly, the brigade’s honorary secretary, said: “We were alerted to reports of someone who had threatened to go into the water or who had gone into the water in the Hebburn area.

"We were stood down because the person was in police care.”

The incident was also the 100th report that the brigade, which has served the town and surrounding area since 1866, had answered during 2020.

Mr Fennelly said: “We are extremely busy and it is to our credit that our volunteers have continued to attend every incident we have been asked to attend during the current crisis.

"We can be tasked at all hours of the day and night looking for missing people, assisting people who are in distress or people who have got lost.

"Over the whole coronavirus crisis the team has continued training while observing social distancing and Covid practices.”

The brigade team, consisting of 16 active members, attended 110 incidents last year and Mr Fennelly added: “It is a busy time. Not every case will be directly linked to covid, but there is some suggestion in these stressful times that some people are more fragile than before.”

To support the brigade, which has seen its income fall dramatically due to a reduction in fundraising events since the pandemic outbreak, go to www.justgiving.com/southshieldsvolunteerlifebrigadeuk.

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