Coastguards were called into action to investigate unattended fishing equipment.

The West Bay Coastguard team were paged on Monday, September 18 at 11.03pm to Chesil Beach at Abbotsbury.

Four rescue officers from the West Bay team including the teams DSO (Deputy Station Officer) responded to the Station, picked up their equipment and the teams rescue vehicle then headed for Abbotsbury.

On arrival a fishing shelter, a broken fishing rod, an assortment of bait and a used frying pan were all found unattended on the beach.

To make sure that no one was missing or in distress, investigations were carried out with local fisherman and cafe staff who reported that there were fisherman on the beach all night and nothing untoward had been reported.

The police were then notified who sent two officers to attend the scene.

With no personal items found, no unattended vehicles in the car park, no persons reported missing and no signs of anyone being in distress, the police were happy for the team to clear all of the items from the beach and dispose of them to prevent any further callouts.

A spokesman for the coastguard said: "We would ask all members of the public to clear their belongings away when leaving the beach, as this will avoid an unnecessary response from the emergency services.

"We want to thank the member of the public who called the coastguard and are glad that this had all the hallmarks of a false alarm with good intent."