PEOPLE with 'personal locator beacons' are being urged to guard against accidental activation after the Largs lifeboat crew was called out to a distress call.

The plea comes from new recruit Janet Iqbal, who was among the crew members carrying out training on the water when the alarm was raised on Sunday, April 30.

Belfast Coastguard contacted the Largs lifeboat station to advise that they were monitoring an 'active personal locator beacon' signal to the north of the lifeboat’s position.

The coastguard asked the lifeboat to move to a position between Rothesay Bay and the East Kyle of Bute to try and pick up the beacon.

But on arriving at the scene the coastguard team advised that the beacon had moved west - and launched the Tighnabruaich lifeboat and a  coastguard rescue helicopter from Prestwick.

The Largs RNLI crew was asked to go to the south end of Bute to see if they could pick up a signal there, and then decided to continue further to the west in the hope of picking up better reception from any VHF signal.

While in the area the lifeboat crew spoke to people on board three yachts, all of which had travelled from the north, but none had seen anything or were carrying any beacons that may have been activated in error.

With the coastguard advising that the signal was now some distance away, the Largs lifeboat and her crew were relieved from the incident and returned to station.

Trainee crew member Janet said: “After moving from Arran to Largs due to work commitments, I had been a little nervous on getting my first callout with a new crew.

“Thankfully, this call out seems to have been a false alarm and nothing serious. It was great to see how smoothly the call out went and how good the communication was between the crew.

“Personal locator beacons are becoming increasingly popular and with this comes the possibility of accidental triggering.

“If you do find this has happened, it is best to alert the local coastguard advising what has happened and that all is well.”