A HUGE ship fender was found off the coast of Chalkwell Beach.

Southend Coastguard was paged yesterday after a 999 call went out with reports of a large object floating in the water.

The member of public was concerned after witnessing a large group of people, potentially kids, trying to move it.

Once on scene it was clear to the team they were dealing with a large fender from a ship. This was relayed back to operations control.

One crew member in wading suit and flotation device with PPE headed out to roll the object back to the beach.

With an incoming tide and concerns if left the fender would re float, drift off and pose a threat to other seafarers.

Once returned to shore a second crew member assisted and the fender was secured adjacent to Chalkwell Lifeguards building.

Happy that the fender was no longer a concern for the team, the necessary calls were placed to arrange collection.

Southend Pier & Foreshore had advised that they were now aware and in the process of dealing with the collection and or disposal of.

Team were then released from scene to return to station, a quick debrief and then kit clean down followed before returning to the pagers.