Littlehampton’s RNLI station is one of the UK’s busiest

The statistics released by the charity, note that, although overall call-outs by the town’s service during the past 12 months are down, it still remains one of the UK’s most-called coastal stations sitting well within the top 15 per cent.

It is currently ranked as 24th most-called, coastal station, out of 236.

The centre is beaten – only marginally – by four others across Hampshire and Sussex, including Portsmouth and Eastbourne.

The report shows volunteer crews from Littlehampton were launched 63 times over the past year, and rescued a total of 53 people. It also highlighted that crews spent more than 178 hours at sea.