MORE than 30 members of Wiltshire Fire & Rescue’s specialised water rescue teams, firefighters, paramedics and police spent three hours on Sunday night searching the lock at Bradford on Avon Wharf on the Kennet & Avon canal after reports that a man had been pushed in.

The night-time search proved to be a false alarm, raised by a well-meaning passer-by.

An initial search failed to find him in the 12-foot-deep lock, where the water was between six and eight foot deep, and he was found safe and well at his home in Radstock at 10pm.

An eye-witness called 999 at 7.10pm on Sunday, after seeing an altercation between a man and a woman, who had clearly been drinking, on the towpath off Frome Road. They believed the row had ended in the man being pushed into the canal by the woman.

Sergeant John Brixey, who was on duty at the time, said: “It was quite a nerve-racking and worrying time for everyone but the most important thing is that nobody was in the water or hurt.”

“The witness’ call was genuine. They believed a man had been pushed into the canal. It wasn’t a malicious call. It was made with the best of intentions. They did what any responsible person would do in order to extract the person who may have fallen in.

“It was very dark. We did our best to conduct a search. We couldn’t see anything.

"We have to respond to everything. We will work together to do everything we can and fortunately nobody fell in, which is a relief."

e don’t want these incidents happening on a regular basis but the local community can see the partnership between the emergency services was very good.”

When police arrived at the scene, they found a woman, who they described as ‘quite aggressive’ towards them, and who had a young child with her. She was taken into police custody but has now been released and no further action will be taken against her.

They then began the search of the water, many of them using poles to probe into the darkness of the lock.

Police inquiries then led officers to visit a house in Radstock, where they found the man they suspected was in the water, safe and well, and the search teams were stood down at 10pm after being given the all clear.

To ensure the safety of residents and those involved in the frantic search, Frome Road was closed from 7.30pm before being re-opened at 11pm.

Watch manager Guy Tadman at Trowbridge fire station later said: “Luckily there was no harm done and we can treat it as a good training exercise.”