Two have a go heroes who pulled a pair of young drunks out of the river last weekend have warned revellers to be on their guard as the weather warms up.
Don Dwayne and Peter Jackson were enjoying an afternoon's sailing on Peter's boat Sun God, when they decided to stop off for a drink at the Gazebo pub, by Kingston Bridge at about 7pm on Sunday.
“We spotted some lads messing about, looking like they were about to jump in,” said Don,39, of Surbiton.
“We were a bit worried so instead of just going off we hovered nearby. They were trying to swim across to the other side but when they got half way they got into trouble.
“One of them just sank, so we went over and tried to pull him in. He was unconscious, a dead weight – it was frightening how quickly he just went. We managed to drag him on to the boat. His friend seemed a bit better but was really cold and people at the pub phoned for the lifeboat and an ambulance.”
Horrified drinkers who witnessed the incident said the men had drunk at least seven pints of lager throughout the afternoon.
Teddington RNLI attended the scene and gave one of the men, who were about 20 years old, oxygen. Lifeboat Operations Manager Malcolm Miatt said: “The men did very well to get them out. We get this sort of thing happening every year, although it's quite early – it usually starts in a few months.
“What people need to remember is that while it might be nice and sunny the Thames is still extremely cold, and when people have been drinking they catch hypothermia a lot quicker.”
Peter, 46, of Ham, the boat's skipper, said: “I've been thinking about it since and I just think 'what if we'd left a minute and a half earlier or what if we'd stopped for another drink?'”
Both men were taken by ambulance to Kingston Hospital.
In a separate incident, officers from Kingston's Grove Safer Neighbourhood Team went to the rescue of a 13-year-old girl who jumped into the river by Queens Promenade.
The girl was with a group of friends when officers spotted her at about 3.30pm on Friday. She was dragged out by PCSOs Pat Read and Jacqueline Reader.
