A 40-year-old man had to be air lifted to hospital after suffering a severe allergic reaction on a beach.

The coastguard was trying to land its helicopter on the beach at Chapman's Pool in Purbeck but, due to the state of the tide, the Swanage lifeboat crew was called for backup.

The lifeboat crew had to leave the annual Swanage civic service midway through to help with the incident after their pagers went off at about 3.22pm yesterday.

A plan was in place for the casualty to be put on the lifeboat before being taken up in the helicopter but by the time the lifeboat arrived the tide had receded enough for the helicopter to land on the beach.

With the casualty safely onboard, the helicopter lifted off for hospital at 4.03pm and the lifeboats were stood down to return to the station.