These are the flotation devices a swimming teacher is warning parent to avoid this summer

Parents are being urged to equip their children with traditional armbands instead of modern floating devices this summer, to avoid potential tragedy.

Gail Rickett, who runs swimming lessons across the North West, has tots as young as two swimming 200 metres and four-year-olds completing a mile.

Now she’s turned her attention to saving lives and is determined to get the message out there that individual armbands, made popular in the 1970s and 1980s, are the best flotation device for youngsters not confident in the water.

“Woggle” and “noodle” floats are much more common sights in modern-day pools, but qualified lifeguard and swimming teacher Gail, who has worked in pools for her entire career, insists she’s “never had to save a child from drowning wearing armbands”.

She added: “A lot of parents are led to believe that they should not put armbands on their children if they are non-swimmers or weak swimmers when playing around a swimming pool. I strongly disagree.”

Drowning is the third highest cause of death in children in the UK, while nine million British adults can’t swim.

Gail, aka The Water Whisperer, who has made TV appearances on the back of her phenomenal success rate with pupils, said: “As a lifeguard I have pulled many children out of the water and prevented hundreds from drowning.