'I'm addicted to helping people out on the water'

A lifeboat coxswain, who has attended his 500th call-out, has said he is addicted to helping people at sea.

James Baggott reached the milestone on 30 August when Gosport and Fareham Inshore Rescue Service (GAFIRS) was called to a boat which ran aground in Stokes Bay, Hampshire.

The service said he had helped 123 people whose lives were potentially at risk over the course of 10 years' service.

Mr Baggott said: "Helping make a real difference to someone's life is incredibly rewarding and very, very addictive."

Mr Baggott helped to save the life of a woman who was airlifted from Spitbank Fort

One of his most memorable emergencies was later featured on the BBC TV series Close Calls on Camera.

A woman on Spitbank Fort in the Solent slipped and cracked her skull in August 2016.

Mr Baggott recalled: "[She] was in real trouble... We had to help give her first aid.

"In the end we had to carry her up on a stretcher to be winched off by the helicopter.

"The healthcare professionals saved her life and she came back to the station a few months later and thanked us.

"Even thinking about that now gives me goose bumps because we genuinely made a real difference."

The business owner paid tribute to his "very understanding family" who have helped him to clock up 3,881 volunteer hours.

He said: "I can be sat at home, having my dinner or asleep in bed, and the next minute the pager will go off and you can be out on the water within minutes.

"I've got some young children and it always seems to happen when it's bath-time or when you're really needed as a dad."

GAFIRS, which is independent of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, lays claim to being one of the busiest lifeboat stations in the country.

Its volunteers, including one coxswain who has served for more than 50 years, include paramedics, electricians and engineers.

Mr Baggott said he would carry on for as long as possible.

He said: "There's not many things you can volunteer for where people are really delighted when you turn up on the scene.

"It is a buzz getting out there on the water and helping people."