ARMED police officers rushed to Bridport town centre after a drunk man was seen waving a gun in the air.

Officers from Bridport Neighbourhood Policing Team (NPT), as well as four armed officers, received several calls from the public about a man with what appeared to be a pistol, along East Street on Saturday evening.

An air pistol was seized by officers and a local man was arrested and has been bailed until next month.

Bridport Acting Police Inspector Jamie Clark described the incident as “a recipe for disaster”.

He said: “We were informed by a few members of the public that a chap was in East Street with a silver gun.

“He was waving an imitation gun around in the air. He wasn’t pointing it at people. He’s a local 55-year-old man who was quite heavily intoxicated when he was detained by a combination of local and armed police.

“He was drunk, so it was just a recipe for disaster.”

Insp Clark thanked the public for their help during the incident and called on gun owners to “act responsibly”. He also said that officers cannot always tell the difference between a gun and an imitation firearm.

He added: “It’s not unusual for the armed officers to be in Bridport or Lyme Regis as we always have to have a certain number of armed officers on duty at any one time.

“It’s an air pistol and it will obviously cause you an injury as they fire a small pellet. We can’t tell the difference between an imitation firearm and a real firearm. We would advise people not to take them out in the public because normally we respond to such incidents with armed police officers.

“We received numerous calls from the public and we appreciate their cooperation and alerting us to the fact that he was walking down the street with a pistol.

“If you have got one, you have to act responsibly. You can’t carry one while walking down the high street. One would assume if you are waving around a gun in the street, you are going to put people in fear of you.”

A Dorset Police spokesman said: “Dorset Police were called at 7.28pm on Saturday, May 7 to reports of a man reportedly carrying a gun in Bridport town centre.

“Armed officers attended. A weapon, believed to be an unloaded air pistol was seized.

“A 55-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of possession of an imitation firearm in a public place and has been released on police bail pending further enquiries until mid-June, 2016.”

Anyone with information should call police on 101.