A DRUNKEN hoax call led to Scarborough and Whitby’s lifeboats being called out to search for an ‘injured seaman’.

A man dialled 999 in the middle of the night and said he was a lone yachtsman who had injured himself at sea.

The lifeboats scoured a huge area of sea between the two towns into the early hours of Wednesday morning but the search was called off when the police and coastguard discovered the emergency call was a hoax.

John Senior, lifeboat operations manager, said: “It appears that the individual concerned was worse for wear on the Newcastle to Amsterdam ferry when he called 999 and asked for an ambulance.

“After call triangulation indicating he was somewhere off Robin Hoods Bay, the coastguard were informed and a major air-and-sea search was set in motion”, said John, who assisted the shore crew.

After rehousing and washing the Shannon boat, the crew of six – plus the shore crew - weren’t back in their beds until 4am.

By coincidence, two of the crew had spent three nights last week on an intensive radar training course.