The alarm was raised after a concerned member of the public believed a person was in trouble at sea.

Emergency services were called to West Bay shortly before noon today.

West Bay Coastguard Rescue Team was alerted by Solent Coastguard NMOC (National Maritime Operations Centre) to reports from a member of the public of seeing what he thought was a person in the water opposite the western end of the promenade.

Dorset Police, South Western Ambulance Service and the RNLI Lyme Regis Lifeboat also responded to the incident.

Once on scene, officers met with the person who raised the alarm and they pointed out the object of concern.

Through binoculars, the officers assessed that the object was most likely a dark coloured marker buoy and Solent coastguard was updated.

As the man was so concerned that he had seen a person, the lifeboat was continued on its run to the scene to double check the area.

With nothing of concern found, all resources were stood down to return to station.

A spokesman for West Bay CRT said: "We want to thank the member of the public for reporting their concerns and this incident was recorded as a false alarm with good intent.