A team of charity rowers had to be rescued by the Coastguard after becoming caught in treacherous weather conditions.

The team members – who aim to be the first to travel the length of the country by water – were involved in the rescue when their boat was caught in a violent tide.

Dominic Gomersall, Paul Bassett, Ian Mattioli and Andy Lyon are rowing 1,097 miles from Land's End to John O'Groats.

They got into difficulties as they rowed towards Hull on Wednesday.

When they failed to reach the city in the time they had set, they were caught out by the turning tide.

Huge waves began crashing against their boat, pushing it close to the Humber Bridge.

Fortunately for the Leicester rowers, the Coastguard had spotted them on CCTV cameras and a rescue was launched.

Leader Dominic, owner of Leicester jewellers Lumbers, said: "As we were turning in on the Humber Bridge, we felt the tide becoming extremely erratic and we knew we were in terrible trouble.

"Heading towards the bridge, we felt the consequences could become dire and we had little time to rescue ourselves.

"We were heading towards the bridge at a pretty good rate, which obviously wouldn't have been good.

"We managed to get the boat on to a muddy area at the side but the tide was coming in rapidly and there were big rocks nearby.

"Eventually, we would have been swept away."

Luckily for the group, the Coastguard had monitored their progress and began a rescue mission, sending a rig out to the team to return the boat to safer waters.

The men were told the mud in some parts of the estuary would have swallowed them.

Dominic said: "In a lot of the muddy areas, we would have been completely covered, apparently, so that could have been another disaster.

"But it was only up to our knees in that spot."

Even with the 350 horse-power rig towing them the two miles to Hull, the journey took two hours.

"It shows how strong the tide was," said Dominic. "There's no way we would have made it.

"Hats off to the coastguards. If it was not for them, we would have been in real trouble and I can't begin to imagine what might have happened."

The team will have to wait until Saturday to continue their journey due to force 10 storms hitting the east coast of England.

They hope to make it to John O'Groats by the end of next week.

They hope to raise £100,000, to be split between Rainbows children's hospice, the Brain Tumour Trust, the Royal National Lifeboat Institute and the Prince's Trust.

"The nice thing is, all along the way we're setting records," said Dominic.

"We're already the first people to have rowed across the country on the route we've done.

"I'm enjoying parts of it. In terms of satisfaction and the challenge, it's fantastic."