Beach inflatables should be "banned" according to a rescue boat crew member in East Yorkshire.
Speaking ahead of August bank holiday Rob Carthew, from Hornsea Inshore rescue boat, said inflatables were too easily "swept out to sea".
His comments came just days after a family were rescued when their inflatable dinghy was blown out to sea.
But Joseph Liggett, who sells inflatables in Bridlington, said parents should keep children safe.
Mr Carthew, whose charity-funded rescue boat patrols the East Yorkshire coast, said: "I'd ban them.
"If there are offshore winds inflatables are lethal, because small children can just be swept straight out to sea - and people buy them every day."
However, Mr Liggett defended the sale of inflatables and said he would never ban them.
He said they were perfectly safe if people used them "properly and responsibly".
"Parents should stop children going in the water if warning flags are flying and put them in the paddling pool instead," he added.
Beach inflatables are recipe for disaster - RNLI
Earlier this month, families and children using inflatables were rescued in operations at Skegness, Mablethorpe and Withernsea.
On Monday, holidaymakers in Withernsea were warned not to bring inflatables to the beach following the rescue of a family whose inflatable had drifted two miles (3.2km) out into the North Sea off Withernsea.
The town's RNLI helmsman Sean Bell said after the rescue: "We want people to come to the beach and enjoy the local attractions, but what we'd say is don't bring inflatables to a beach, don't do it."
A spokesperson for the RNLI added: "Inflatables are designed for use in a pool and ideally this is where they should be used."
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