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Lives are being put at risk along the Wirral coastline as safety equipment is being tampered with, vandalised, and stolen.
According to Birkenhead News, a group of young people was reported to have removed several buoyancy rings and set them on fire. These rings are one of the ones placed strategically to help in an emergency.
On June 21, one of the council's Community Safety Officers concluded that, as well as rings being tampered with, two rope ladders were missing. Rope ladders are usually used to help someone who is stranded during high tides.
Many other pieces of safety equipment exist in the Wirral, mostly around eastern Merseyside.
This is because the Mersey Estuary can be treacherous, as it's marked as the third-fastest tidal run in Europe with speeds reaching up to 10 knots! The estuary's narrow mouth creates a bottleneck effect, so the incoming tide can quickly rise without warning, creating issues for coastal walkers and experienced swimmers.
The latest incident comes shortly after similar criminal damage was reported by the Wirral Coastguard Rescue Team on their Facebook page in May. On that occasion, they showed a photograph of two life rings left on the beach having been set on fire, rendering them unusable.
The team thanked Wirral Council's Community Safety team for attending and replacing the damaged equipment quickly.
Councillor Jenny Johnson, Chair of the Tourism, Communities, Culture and Leisure Committee at Wirral Council, said: "It is staggering that there are those in our community who are willing to put other people's lives directly at risk. I can't think of a single excuse why anyone would want to damage or steal this equipment, which is there to protect the public and save lives."
She added: "This equipment has to be accessible, easily identifiable, and able to be used quickly – we just can't lock it away. Every time an item is damaged or removed, it has to be replaced at the taxpayer's expense. It is therefore everybody's duty to look after this kit and if they see it being misused or interfered with, report it to the police straight away."
