A rescue team were called after a mobility scooter got stuck in a harbour.

Andy Burnett, owner of Sandy’s fish and chip shop, called Folkestone Rescue after spotting a man struggling with a scooter stuck in the mud, at around 10am.

He said: “I thought I'd have a morning break, so I walked out and this thing was stuck in the harbour.

“The tide was on the turn coming in. I looked at it and thought 'oh dear', so I rang up Folkestone Rescue because I know the bloke who runs it and he was on site with two of his crew pretty quickly. They helped drag the scooter out.”

He said Folkestone Rescue, an independent charity, offered a fantastic service, monitoring the beach throughout the summer months.

“Three of them came down,” he added. “David is the boss so he supervised – the other two checked they were ok to start with and basically dragged it out with brute force.

“If it had been another half an hour/40 minutes, the tide would have been around their ankles and then you've got something bobbing around in the harbour which isn't safe.

“It was a good job they came as quickly as they did.”

Andy later posted on Facebook: “Seen a lot of people, prams, dogs, stuck in the harbour. First for a mobility scooter tho”, drawing a range of comments, from “New electric jet ski fails in maiden voyage” to “Some are just desperate to get to Folkestone’s premier fish and chip shop!”

Russell Reilly, manager of Folkestone Rescue, said the man had been advised not to drive in the harbour in the future.

“We were alerted to a gentleman who had reportedly driven a mobility scooter down into the harbour area and got his vehicle stuck,” he said. “We arrived at the harbour slip way and got the gentleman safely back onto the dry slip way with his scooter.

“The tide was coming in during the incident so we did follow up with a bit of advice to remind him that there are sections of the harbour that act like quicksand, and that driving in the harbour was not advised.

“The gentleman in question didn’t need any medical assistance and was just happy for the quick help in recovering his mobility scooter.”