Coastguard rescue man in £10 dinghy

A MAN who drifted a mile out to sea in a toy dinghy had to be rescued by a lifeboat crew as he battled against the wind and tide.

The RNLI said if the alarm had not been raised they could have been recovering a dead body from the sea off Redcar.

A lifeboat crew member sped out towards the Teesside Wind Farm in the North Sea at around 7.30pm on Monday.

The crewman spotted the drenched casualty, who was wearing just a hoodie and shorts, and shouted: “Ey up, what are you doing out here?”

He then radioed the Coastguard that the man was in a “£10 dinghy” and had no safety gear.

The man was then brought back safely to shore and was given safety advice.