A KEEN swimmer said “hundreds of people” were reporting being sick after swimming at Avon Beach and called for an investigation into the cause of the contamination.

Joshua Heeley, who lives in Mudeford, said people were reporting being sick and getting skin rashes and said it could be linked to cases e-coli.

The 37-year-old said: “We keep our finger on the pulse of the community and started seeing people reporting throwing up and it was linked to how clean the water it around here.

“There were red flags up at Avon Beach, apparently it means not to go in the water due to the quality of the water.

“I was shocked, we always swim there, there are serious issues.

“I would say there must have been at least 100 people reporting the issues, that’s just on the forums.

“There needs to be a beach clean-up, that’s one thing. They need to find the source of the contamination and find out where it’s coming from.”

Joshua said fines weren’t enough if the contamination came from companies or people dumping waste.

“If people are coming down and getting sick first things first someone needs to come down and test the water. An investigation needs to be done.

“It needs to start with checking the water, stopping people swimming and the tides will take it away eventually.”

A spokesperson for BCP Council said: “We can confirm we have received no reports of an e-coli outbreak at Avon Beach and no concerns have been raised by our partners at Public Health Dorset, Public Health England or the Environment Agency.

“We will continue to work with our partners to monitor water quality as part of our ongoing routine to keep our beaches clean and safe.

“Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole beaches have been awarded more blue flags than any other UK authority.

“The area’s blue flag beaches are Alum Chine, Branksome Chine, Canford Cliffs, Durley Chine, Fisherman’s Walk, Sandbanks, Shore Road, Southbourne and Manor Steps.

“On top of this, all nine blue flag locations have the added honour of receiving Seaside Awards, as well as the beaches at Bournemouth, Boscombe, Friars Cliff, Avon and Highcliffe.”