A CANOEIST who sparked a frenzied search along the banks of the River Ribble has apologised to emergency services for potentially wasting their time.

The incident occurred on Sunday and three fire engines and an ambulance raced to the Aspinall Arms pub at Mitton after reports that a canoe was floating upside down in the river.

After seeing that no one was in the canoe firefighters left the scene of the false alarm.

The 37-year-old woman from Ribblesdale Avenue, Accrington, who the canoe belonged to contacted the Lancashire Telegraph to explained what happened.

The woman, who asked not to be named, intended to canoe from Edisford Bridge at Clitheroe down to Ribchester.

Along with her brother, who is 40, the pair were paddling along the river until they reached a small waterfall at Mitton.

She said: "My brother shouted, 'I aint going down that' and pulled into the side.

"Me being a woman shouted back that I had decided to go down it but by the time I realised how big it was, it was too late.

"I tried to turn around and ended up going down backwards, I got caught in the current under the waterfall, managed to get up and left the canoe rolling around along with the paddle.

"I had an old fleece on which I had to take off due to it tangling round me in the water.

"I offer my sincere apologies again to the police and the medics."

The woman banged her face in the incident but said apart from minor bruising she was fine.