An air ambulance was called to Cullercoats Bay this month after a person fell on the cliffs, with the Newcastle Chronicle confirming the response as it unfolded. It is the most recent in a run of serious incidents at a stretch of North Tyneside coastline where rescue teams logged 69 callouts in 2025 alone — more than in any year since the station was founded in 1852.
Details of the casualty’s condition in the cliff rescue have not been made public. What is clear is that emergency services responded fast, as they have done repeatedly along this coastline over the past 14 months.
Table of Contents
What Happened at St Mary’s Lighthouse in April 2026
Three weeks before the cliff incident, on Saturday 18 April 2026, Cullercoats RNLI received a call at 14:37 BST about a person who had suffered a medical emergency on Bates Island at St Mary’s Lighthouse in Whitley Bay. The causeway connecting the island to the mainland was submerged by the tide. The casualty had no route to shore.
Reaching them required a technique called veering — the lifeboat anchors in open water while the crew work backwards toward the rocks. Two volunteers entered the sea and climbed up to the casualty carrying first aid equipment.
When the patient’s condition worsened, the crew worked with two members of the St Mary’s Island Wildlife Conservation Society to stretcher them back to the lifeboat. The North East Ambulance Service met the crew at Cullercoats and discharged the patient at the scene.
An RNLI crew member said:
“It was a challenging service call that called upon many aspects of our training, including seamanship and casualty care in order to look after the casualty and ensure they received the best possible care. If you are visiting the island to witness the incredible wildlife on our coast, please remember to check the tide times for safe periods to cross the causeway.”
The Tynemouth Volunteer Life Brigade confirmed it as their 29th callout of 2026, with shore crews tasked to support the RNLI operation within ten minutes of the coastguard page.
June 2025: The Day 32 People Were Blown Offshore at Cullercoats Bay
The biggest single coastal rescue operation at Cullercoats Bay in recent years happened on Tuesday 24 June 2025. HM Coastguard received a call at 12:20 BST reporting 32 adults and children who had been blown offshore while kayaking and paddleboarding in the bay.
By the time lifeboats reached the scene, 14 had already managed to get back to shore. The remaining 18 people — 13 children and 5 adults — were rescued by the responding crews.
RNLI lifeguard George Legg described conditions on the water:
“It was an intense situation with force five winds blowing outside the harbour creating lots of wind chop.”
Tynemouth RNLI Coxswain Sam Clow said the group was simply caught off guard by a change in conditions:
“Unfortunately, they just got caught out by some offshore winds. The winds picked up while they were out there and they just got pushed a little bit far out of the bay and struggled to make it back against the winds.”
One child was taken to hospital as a precaution. Everyone else was brought ashore safely. Becks Dawson, who was swimming in the area at the time, said people on the beach were cheering as the lifeboat crews returned.
After debriefing the group, Clow said: “We heard that they had done everything correctly when they became aware of the difficulties they were in.”
Six agencies worked the rescue:
- Cullercoats RNLI, which arrived on scene first
- Tynemouth RNLI
- RNLI lifeguards
- Tynemouth Volunteer Life Brigade
- Blyth Coastguard Rescue Team and Northumbria Police
- Two passing commercial vessels called in by the coastguard to help recover kayaks once all persons were accounted for
The RNLI released bodycam footage of the operation shortly afterwards.
2025: 69 Callouts and a Record That Dates Back to 1852
The June rescue was one of 69 callouts Cullercoats RNLI responded to across all of 2025, the highest total in the station’s recorded history. In 2024, the equivalent figure was 45.
Helm Carl Taylor, 38, who qualified at the station on 15 January 2025, was involved in 58 of those 69 callouts and captained the lifeboat on 23 of them, all while running his own plastering business. His partner Georgia and their two-year-old son were at home each time his pager went off. “It is a lot of responsibility but I love it,” he said.
Operations Manager Kay Heslop, who has led Cullercoats RNLI since 2022, reflected on the year:
“This year, the busiest on record, has challenged the crew both in terms of the commitment of their time and also through the varied taskings we have received. It has also brought the opportunity for shared learning experiences and team building whilst providing a dedicated service to our community. I could not be more proud of what they, as volunteers, have consistently delivered throughout the year.”
The callout types ranged from paddleboarders and kayakers blown offshore to vessels losing power, overturned boats and open water swimmers in difficulty. Press officer Sarah Whitelaw noted that even the station’s one hoax call of the year, which happened to be the 60th callout and fell on Kay Heslop’s own 60th birthday, was treated as live: “We rarely receive hoax calls, thankfully. It’s more often that we get a false alarm with good intent.”
Who Responds to Rescues at Cullercoats Bay?
Several organisations respond jointly when a callout comes in from this stretch of coast.
Cullercoats RNLI has operated since 1852. Its current inshore lifeboat is the B-class Atlantic 85 “Daddy’s Girl” (B-935), on station since 2022. The 1896 boathouse holds Grade II listed status and the station has received seven awards for gallantry. In 2022, it launched its first all-female crew.
Tynemouth RNLI provides all-weather lifeboat support for more serious offshore operations and worked alongside Cullercoats in both the June 2025 mass rescue and the September 2025 vessel incident at King Edward’s Bay.
The Tynemouth Volunteer Life Brigade (TVLB), a shore-based coastal rescue service founded in 1864, is a declared facility to HM Coastguard for rope rescue, water rescue and coastal search operations. Its 20 volunteers average around 120 callouts per year and are typically on scene within five to ten minutes of being tasked.
| Organisation | Primary Role |
|---|---|
| Cullercoats RNLI | Inshore lifeboat launch |
| Tynemouth RNLI | All-weather offshore support |
| Tynemouth Volunteer Life Brigade | Shore rescue, cliff access, first aid |
| HM Coastguard | Coordination and helicopter deployment |
| North East Ambulance Service | Medical care on arrival |
| Northumbria Police | Scene management and public safety |
Why Cullercoats Bay Generates So Many Rescue Callouts
The bay’s geography consistently works against visitors who underestimate it. Offshore winds along this stretch of the North Sea are measurably stronger beyond the harbour walls than they appear near shore, which is why paddleboards and kayaks regularly get pushed out faster than people can return against them. Tidal changes cut off causeways and access points quickly — the St Mary’s Island causeway can go from accessible to fully submerged within a short window at high tide. Cold North Sea water also affects the body within seconds of immersion, regardless of how warm the air feels above the surface.
The RNLI has said the rise from 45 callouts in 2024 to 69 in 2025 could partly reflect an unseasonably warm spring and dry summer that brought higher visitor numbers to the coast, as well as better public awareness of when to call for help.
What to Do If You See Someone in Trouble on the Coast
The RNLI’s guidance for coastal emergencies has been consistent across every incident at Cullercoats Bay:
- Call 999 and ask for the Coastguard — not the police
- Do not enter the water yourself to attempt a rescue; it puts two people at risk instead of one
- Keep the person in sight and keep relaying their location to the coastguard
- Shout to keep them calm and aware that help is coming
- Check tide times before visiting tidal causeways, including St Mary’s Island
By 19 April this year, the Tynemouth Volunteer Life Brigade had already recorded 30 operational callouts, with the summer months still ahead. The volunteer crews responding from Cullercoats Bay have run 69 rescues in a single year, carried out technically demanding tidal extractions in spring, and this month answered an air ambulance call to their own cliffs. For people who do this alongside full-time jobs, for no pay, the coast does not offer a quiet season. It never really has.
For coastal emergencies anywhere in the UK, call 999 and ask for the Coastguard.
