COASTGUARDS were called to reports that a surfer had possibly got into difficulty off West Bay.

West Bay Coastguard Rescue Team said it received the "weak and broken" radio transmission from Solent Coastguard at around 1.20pm yesterday (5), just after carrying out a local patrol of the area.

Officers went to West Beach and carried out a check of the area, but found nothing. They then relocated to East Pier while Solent investigated the incident further.

Control room officers listened to a recording of the transmission "multiple times", and combined with new information coming in from the 999 system, realised the incident was taking place at a different location not in the West Bay area.

Officers stood down and returned to station.