Lifeboats were called after an inflatable boat with four people onboard had blown out to sea.

Just before 3pm on Sunday, the Dover RNLI Lifeboat Station team were called to help the small recreational inflatable, which had blown out to sea some 2 nautical miles off of the Hythe coast.

Within 35 minutes, the inflatable had been blown off course by winds of 20-25 knots in moderate seas. The four on board were rescued and brought back to Dover station.

This came after crews had been called to tow a 10m fishing vessel after an engine failure in Samphire Hoe.

The alert was raised while RNLI crews were out on a planned exercise.

The two people on board the fishing vessel were taken to safety at Dover marina and the boat was also towed back by 1pm.

Yesterday, Dover RNLI Lifeboat Station wrote a post about the eventful day on their Facebook page, and advised anyone going to sea on a recreational inflatable to check the weather conditions.

People are also encouraged to carry a waterproof phone pouch and call 999 and ask for the coastguard if they get into difficulty.