Rivers group backs Think, Don’t Swim campaign

Jim Geogheghan-Breen, emergency planning co-ordinator of the River Ouse Safety Advisory Group, said: “What people don’t understand is that even in the height of summer the water is freezing cold and people can very quickly get debilitated.

“Also there are parts of the river people would jump into but unfortunately you do not know what is lurking beneath such as shopping trolleys and bikes and people could very easily injure themselves or get trapped.”

The Press’s campaign was launched after three people drowned in York’s rivers this year, including bartender Richard Horrocks, 21.

He died in July after jumping into the Ouse from the balcony of a riverside bar and getting into difficulties in the water.

Think, Don’t Swim aims to prevent further tragedies by raising awareness of the dangers of jumping or falling in the water.

Mr Geogheghan-Breen said, from experience, there was a common theme when it came to deaths in the river.

“It tends to be young men who have had two much to drink,” he said.

“This could be down to many reasons, such as men tend to feel more comfortable than women walking on their own by the river. Also, young men can tend to have a feeling they are indestructible, especially when they have had a few drinks.

“There is very little, unfortunately, that the authorities can do – we cannot fence off the entire river which, for the vast majority, is a wonderful amenity.

“I think the campaign is excellent, to reinforce to people the need to look after each other and don’t let people full of bravado feel they are indestructible.

“This is something that really needs hammering home.”

Mr Geogheghan-Breen said a plan had recently been put in place by the River Ouse Safety Advisory Group to increase signage along the river to help people on passenger boats and small boats when they get into trouble on the waterways.

Large yellow-and-red signs have been placed at strategic points on the River Ouse between Poppleton and Naburn Lock, to tell people on boats exactly where they are on the river.

“If people are on the river near the city centre is quite easy for them to tell emergency services where they are, but you only have to be a little way out of the centre and it can be quite difficult to know your precise location,” he said. “Now you just say, for example, ‘I am at Upstream Point Four’ and we would know where you are.”

Reservoir dip ‘can turn day out into tragedy’

YORKSHIRE Water is warning people not to swim in its reservoirs in response to the current heatwave.

The company said reservoirs may seem like a good place to take a swim to cool down, but they are actually extremely dangerous, due to their chilling temperatures and strong currents beneath the surface.

A spokesman said: “Reservoirs are deep and the water in them doesn’t flow like in rivers or the sea so the temperature rarely rises much above 12C.”

Geoff Lomas, the company’s recreation and catchment manager, said: “What began as a day out in the sunshine can turn to tragedy within minutes if you decide to take a dip.

“It really doesn’t matter how well you can swim as it’s the cold which can kill you.

“Most people won’t realise that as soon as your body feels the shock of cold water, its natural defences kick in.

“The first sign of trouble is hyperventilation but, if the swimmer stays in the water, the body will gradually shut down to protect the vital organs and muscles will go into cramp.

“The victim will be unable to remain afloat and will sink below the surface and, if help doesn’t arrive within seconds, they will drown.”

He said Yorkshire Water had worked with the Hambleton Community Safety Partnership to develop a DVD which re-enacted a drowning and the response by police, fire and ambulance services.