ENGINEERS were left red-faced after vehicles became stuck in the mud at Poole Park on Thursday.

A truck sunk into the surface of the lagoon and in attempt to pull it out a yellow digger also became trapped.

A second digger attempted to address the situation but failed. Efforts continued to recover the vehicles on Friday.

Borough of Poole’s head of environmental services, Ian Poultney, said: "These events are unfortunate but are part of operational occurrences when dealing with conditions in this type of environment."

He added: “All the necessary steps were taken to ensure there was no lasting detriment to the environment and work is programmed to recover the vehicles and to continue dredging works in the lagoon.”

The work at Poole Park is expected to take around 15 weeks, with it due for completion in late April.

The project, which has a £625,000 budget, aims to increase biodiversity and improve the quality of water, island features and surrounding landscape while maintaining and improving future use for sailing and other recreational activities.