Rescuers fearing someone was in trouble at the coast discovered young 'partygoers' had pushed an empty dinghy out to sea.

The Lyme Regis Lifeboat crew were called out twice in one evening yesterday, Tuesday, March 30.

The volunteer team was called out at 10.15pm to a report of a drifting dinghy off Monmouth beach in Lyme Regis. The Lyme Regis Coastguard team was also in attendance.

Eventually, it was discovered that a group of youngsters had taken an empty dinghy from a nearby boat park and pushed it out to sea. The dinghy was located and returned to the harbour.

A spokesman for the Lyme Regis Lifeboat team said: "Just as most of the volunteer crew of Lyme Regis lifeboat were heading to bed, their pagers sounded to alert them to a report of a drifting dinghy off Monmouth beach in Lyme Regis.

"It was reported that some young partygoers had taken a boat from the nearby boat park and pushed it out to sea.

"The lifeboat crew found no one aboard the dinghy so recovered the drifting vessel and returned to harbour."

This incident followed an earlier report of a kayaker in difficulty at Cogden beach near Abbotsbury at around 5.30pm.

The volunteer crew conducted searches, but nothing was found and the team was stood down by the coastguard.