POLICE have issued a plea to stay sensible - and safe - this summer.

They’re launched a safety campaign that they hope will ease the strain on emergency services at what can be a busy time of year.

And they’re urged people to think properly about what they’re doing, whether that be enjoying the sunshine with a drink or heading out on to the fells.

Superintendent Justin Bibby said: “We’re getting to that time of the year now where the sun is shining and people want to go and want to have a good time.

“The key thing for the police, is if you’re in a town or city you’ve never visited before, how are you getting home?

“Far too often we see people who’ve had a fantastic night, then realise they have no means of getting home and they’re not quite sure where they are.

“That in itself can create great anxieties for them, it can put them in situations where they may be walking in areas which are not very well lit, putting themselves in danger of being involved in road traffic collisions, getting lost and all of the associated worries that come with that.

“This can be avoided by taking that little bit of time at the start of the night. Making sure you have got your plans to get home and that somebody else knows about it.

“But, plans change, they may decide they’re going to go somewhere different.”

A key element of the campaign - wherever you are and whatever you are doing - is hammering home the message that you must tell someone what your plans are.

Supt Bibby explained: “This is so family and friends are then not calling the emergency service to say my friend was due at such and such time and place, they’ve not turned up. I’m worried about them, I don’t know where they are.

“That individual may be absolutely fine.”

He added: “Another concern is people get lost people because they have had too much to drink, not enough food and will then feel tired and make a decision to bed down in a field or a hedge for the night.

“You then have everyone worried - and you get the subsequent investigation and operation to try and find them. When a simple phone call lets someone know. It’s the simple little things like that can make a big difference.”