HOW CAN WE HELP?
Ford is the official vehicle supplier to the RNLI, the charity which saves lives at sea. Most visible is the Ford Ranger which will continue to help lifeguards patrol beaches up and down the UK this year. We’re proud to support the lifesaving charity to help keep our beaches safe.
As well as supplying vehicles, Ford are helping the RNLI keep people safe by raising awareness of their key beach safety messages. In order to support this, in 2021 Ford and RNLI created a series of informative beach safety videos with the aim of highlighting the main risks that people should consider when visiting an UK beach.
In 2020 Ford and the RNLI launched a new initiative to help educate people and raise awareness of key beach safety advice, called Tide Tracks.
“Tide Tracks” used custom tyres to imprint and create key water safety messages across stretches of sand. We captured this all on camera and produced a series of films to help the RNLI drive wider awareness about water safety guidance. Watch the film to find out more.
Now more than ever, it is important to understand beach safety when visiting for a day trip or part of a holiday.
Our partners at the RNLI have the following safety advice for those of you heading to the beach.
Leave your inflatables at home - Blow-up toys and airbeds are designed for swimming pools, not the open sea. The RNLI urges against the use of inflatables because they can easily be swept out.
Float to live - If you or your children fall into the sea unexpectedly, or you find yourself struggling in the water, remember the RNLI’s float to live advice. It could save your life.
Call for help - If you’re in an emergency situation or spot someone else in trouble, call 999 or 112 and ask for the coastguard.
Visit an RNLI lifeguarded beach if you can. You’ll find trained professionals to help keep you safe. And they’ll be on hand if something goes wrong, in or out of the water.
To find a lifeguarded beach near you, use the RNLI’s Find my nearest lifeguarded beach tool. You can search by town, city or postcode, or you can click on the map to find your closest one. You’ll also get dates and times of the lifeguard patrols to help you plan your visit.
To support the lifesaving work of the RNLI and find out more click here.
Even more people will be choosing a beach holiday this year so the RNLI’s advice is to have a phone with you when head out on the water. If you arrive at the beach and it is simply too crowded, consider moving on and spending your day elsewhere.
You might choose to visit the beach at a quieter time of day, or choose a beach with more space, you should still swim between the red and yellow flags.
Checking the tide times is advised – as the tide comes in, it reduces the available space for people to spread out and leads to beaches getting more crowded.
RNLI lifeguards are using the Ranger’s 4WD capabilities again in 2021 across the country’s beaches to keep the public safe. Helping to carry a wide range of rescue equipment, as well as deploying and recovering jet skis, its space and pulling power is put to good use.
The Ford Transit comes into its own as an operations base on location in major maritime search and rescue incidents. Whilst the Transit Custom is a reliable work horse used to undertake vital maintenance work on lifeboats and other essential equipment.
Transit Connect, Fiesta, Focus, Kuga & EcoSport are all being used by the ‘on the ground’ members of the fundraising team and the RNLI’s ‘team of educators’ to take key water safety messages to schools & events around the UK.
The RNLI crews and lifeguards have saved over 142,700 lives since 1824. If you'd like to support them in their crucial lifesaving work, you can click below to make a donation.
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