Lifeboat crews were called out four times in as many hours to rescue people in trouble in the River Thames on one of the hottest days of the year.

Police, ambulance crews and two RNLI lifeboats rushed to the first incident, near Kingston Bridge, after reports of a woman swimming in the river at 2.40pm on Tuesday, July 24.

Rohan Berry has been an RNLI crew member for ten years and attended the incident, which happened hours after the Olympic torch passed through the town centre.

He said a speed boat had tried to help the 57-year-old, who was hypothermic, but was unable to get her into the boat.

He said: “She had been in there for a while and came downstream from outside the pubs on the riverside, so she had gone under the bridge. She was drunk and had self harmed the day before.”

The woman was wrapped in a blanket before being taken to Kingston Hospital by ambulance.

On the way back to the Teddington base the RNLI crew were then called to a boat adrift in Richmond and a rowing boat struggling to go upstream to Twickenham.

Mr Berry said the final call of the day was to an attempted suicide of a 57-year-old man who had jumped into the river near Hampton Court at 9.30pm.

The River Thames claimed two lives on a warm weekend in July last year, sparking urgent calls for greater river safety.

Teddington lifeboat crews help train bar and restaurant staff and raise awareness of the dangers of drunkenly swimming in the river, which even on a hot day can be close to freezing and cripple healthy swimmers through hypothermia.