The St Bees lifeboat team were scrambled last night after receiving reports that a person was in the water at Seascale.

The alert, which turned out to be a "false alarm with good intent", was received by the St Bees team at just after 10.30pm last night.

A member of the public had spotted an individual in the sea, and alerted HM Coastguard.

A spokesman for the St Bees RNLI team said: "Our volunteers arrived on scene and joined Cumbria Police, Civil Nuclear Police and Whitehaven Coastguard who were already searching the area.

"A fisherman who fitted the description of the person and had been fishing in the sea at that time, made himself known to the Coastguard.

"After a further search of the area by our crew to confirm there was no one else in the water all teams were stood down.

"This was a false alarm with good intent, it's always better to be safe than sorry.

"In a coastal, sea or cliff emergency always call 999 and ask for the Coastguard."