Abandoned car sparks full-scale lifeboat alert in Dundee

Emergency services were sent on a wild-goose chase on Wednesday night after a car was found apparently abandoned with its lights on and engine running in a lay-by beside the River Tay in Dundee.

A full-scale alert was raised at 5.40pm when the Ford Fiesta was discovered in the lay-by opposite Tesco on Riverside Drive.

Police, ambulance, coastguard and lifeboat crews were called out, with both lifeboats searching the river for more than an hour before the female driver was found safe and well on the other side of the river.

A spokesman for Police Scotland said the alert had lasted for around an hour and twenty minutes before the woman was traced at the Newport side of the Tay Road Bridge and returned to her car.

Both Broughty Ferry lifeboats were stood down around 7pm.