Children 'risking lives' playing on frozen ponds

Children playing on frozen ponds have prompted warnings from the emergency services.

Police in County Durham have received several calls this weekend from residents worried about young people risking their lives on thin ice.

Durham Constabulary and the County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service are urging people to be aware of the dangers and to know what to do in an emergency - with concerns also raised in Cumbria.

A fire service spokesman said ice is unlikely to freeze to a suitable depth to safely walk on as he warned people to "never" try their luck.

Earlier in the week, firefighters visited Darlington's South Park after reports of young people trying to break ice on its lake.

Durham Constabulary urged parents and guardians to share the fire service's advice with their children.

The freezing weather in Cumbria also led to similar concerns being raised from schools around Carlisle's Hammonds Pond of children playing on frozen water.

Police and firefighters patrolled the area and found "large groups hanging around the pond, getting rowdy and encouraging each other to go onto the ice".

A spokesman for the Carlisle East Fire Station took to social media to urge parents to speak to their children about the "extreme dangers".

"The ice is unpredictable and very thin in some places, made harder to see by the thin covering of frost on the ice," he added.

On finding someone in distress in freezing water, people are urged to call 999 and never follow them in - throwing them life saving floats if available.

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