Police blew up an unattended car outside a station, not realising that it had been parked there by the force's own officers.

Bomb disposal experts were called to what was described as a "suspicious incident" when the vehicle was discovered unoccupied outside Workington police station in the early hours of Thursday.

Following the controlled explosion, it later emerged that other police officers had parked the vehicle there after the owner had been taken ill elsewhere in the town.

Cumbria Police apologised to the owner of the silver Vauxhall Corsa for the mix-up, which it blamed on an "internal communication error".