Firefighters from Buckfastleigh rushed to the rescue after reports of a ‘man lying face down’ in the water – only to find it was a sign that had been thrown into the river.

The Buckfastleigh Fire Station team took it all in their stride and took to Facebook to report:

‘We were called to a sighting of a man laying face down in the river near the cider press at Dartington.

‘The man was seen by a member of the public on a passing bus.

‘On arrival our crew donned water rescue PPE and performed a search of the river and bank thankfully the man was found to actually be a road sign that had been thrown into the river.’

One cheeky fire crew supporter asked ‘Was the road sign ok?’

A fire crew member replied: ‘No unfortunately it was a strawberry crossing warning sign and there’s been traffic jams there ever since!.