Congestion caused by seafront cruisers is causing crucial delays to lifeboat crews answering emergency calls, it was revealed today.

Convoys of hundreds of immaculately polished cars regularly gridlock the seafront from Eastern Esplanade past the pier to Chalkwell.

An RNLI lifeboat spokesman said delays caused by the slow moving parade of cars had long been a problem with crews trying to get to the front, but the service had learned to live with it.

Spokesman Alan Butler said: "Obviously congestion does cause delays to the lifeboat crews, but we have had to live with it over many years.

"We work in close conjunction with the police and council, and we do the best we can in the situation.

Mr Butler added crews were not allowed to use flashing blue lights to clear a path through traffic, because they were restricted to the three main emergency services.

He continued: "The only way we can indicate we are a crew on emergency is to have a sign on the sun visor.

"We are an emergency service, we are all doing this job as volunteers, and we try to do it as best we can, but the fact we have to cope with congestion on the seafront is one of the problems we have to overcome."

Mr Butler did confirm no lives had been lost as a result of lifeboats not getting launched on time.

Inspector Jo Roche at Southend police said he was very aware of the problems caused by the cruisers.

He said: "If it was a question of an emergency crew coming through, we would do our best to clear the way.

"But when you are dealing with upwards of 500 cars on the seafront, it is an awful problem.

Mr Roche added officers had been trying to combat the problem over the past three weekends with operation Sudbury, which saw more than 20 officers operating a zero tolerance policy on cruisers.

He added that the operation netted 80 offenders in two nights alone last weekend, who were all issued with fixed penalty tickets by police.

Showing off - the seafront is often congested with cars just cruising

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