A GROUP of teenagers caused headaches for the coastguard, coastwatch and the RNLI at Holehaven Creek as they became stranded on the mud banks.

The boys had swam all the way from Canvey on Sunday afternoon, before getting into difficulty.

According to the Holehaven coastwatch station, the teenagers had “been hanging onto” the anchored boats as they rested on their swim.

Grahame Harris, station manager at the Holehaven coastwatch office, told the Echo: “They were playing around in the mud.

“They’d swam all the way from Canvey to Holehaven, which is quite a long way.

“The tide was coming in which made it harder for them; they kept tugging at the ships to rest which could have caused damage.

“We called in the coastguard, who advised us to get the RNLI involved.

“Luckily the Gravesend RNLI team were exercising nearby so arrived within minutes.

“The police also had to be called, I presume they just advised them to not to do it again.”

Mr Harris, 67, also stated how this is a common occurrence at the popular creek, he said: “This happens quite a lot.

“Teenagers are always causing us problems.

“They sometimes steal the boats that aren’t properly tied down; sometimes they jump off the jetty, which is really dangerous.

“We are the eyes and ears of the coast so we are used to this kind of thing.

“Our first port of call is always the coastguard.”

Mick Orwood, 59, station manager at the Canvey Island coastguard, added: “The kids do this every year.

“They swim across the creek and do what kids do on the mud.

“We give them awareness talks but sometimes kids will be kids.”

A spokesperson from the RNLI, said: “The crew could see that six children had swam across to the mud bank; the only way back to safety was to swim back across the tide.

“They were transferred to the lifeboat and taken back to Holehaven causeway where they were met by Canvey Coastwatch who had a chat with the children to highlight the dangers of swimming in the Thames.”

Essex police confirmed that they were called to the scene after reports that the teenagers were climbing the jetty.

They also confirmed that they moved the group of teenagers on.