COASTGUARD officials were called out on Sunday after a member of the public mistook waving and shouting for a sign of trouble.

Teams based at Poole and Southbourne rushed to an area of the seafront near Bournemouth Pier after receiving reports of three people in trouble in the sea.

However, when they arrived, all three were on the beach.

A crewmember from Poole said: "Having spoken to them, it turned out they were indeed in the water, but having fun.

"The first had gone into the sea and started waving to their friends to join them.

"A person on the shoreline had mistaken the waving and shouting as a sign of distress and saw the two entering the water as a possible attempt to rescue the first person.

"We confirmed no one needed any medical help, reported our findings to the operations room and returned to the station."