People are being warned not to risk their lives in Kent's waterways after five swimmers were rescued over the weekend.

They had gone for a drip in the Yalding area and were saved from drowning after being caught out by rushing water from a sluice gate.

Now, Kent Fire and Rescue Service has set up a campaign to try and improve increase safety in Kent's waters.

It has identified water rescue incident hotspots, which are set to benefit from a new partnership between with the RNLI.

The organisations are teaming up to provide targeted water safety education and promotion within the areas of Medway, Whitstable and Herne Bay, in a bid to reduce the number of people getting into trouble in the water there.

In addition, Kent has been selected to be part of the RNLI’s Community Responder Programme (CRP), joining Devon and Somerset, London, Norfolk, and Tyne and Wear.

It will initially focus on Maidstone with a view to extend into Medway in the near future, will see businesses and community groups based along the River Medway trained in basic water rescue.

KFRS community safety officers began their CRP training with the RNLI today, which will enable them to teach businesses and community groups skills which could one day help to save a life.

In the coming weeks KFRS will begin to approach businesses and groups in Maidstone, asking them to pledge to be trained and book a date for their free one-day course.

Employees will be primarily taught how to keep themselves safe, how to try and prevent people entering the water, and also how to use rescue tools such as throw bags if people do enter the water.

If well received by those taking part in the pilot, it could be rolled out to other areas of the county.

Ian Thomson, assistant director for community safety at KFRS, said: “We hope the people we train will never have to use the skills our teams teach them, but if they do, they’ll know what they need to do to help to save a life. If this initiative can help to save one person, then it’s done its job.”

• Businesses in Maidstone interested in getting involved in the Community Responder Programme pilot scheme should get in touch via email