FEARS that someone had fallen off the Runcorn Widnes bridge sparked a full scale emergency.

An RAF helicopter from Anglesey and RNLI hovercraft from New Brighton mounted a massive search after the alarm was raised last night.

Emergency services spent more than an hour using thermal imaging cameras to scour the River Mersey.

They called off the search after no-one was found in the water.

A spokesman for Cheshire Police said: β€œAt 6.40pm we received reports of a person climbing over the railings on the Runcorn/Widnes bridge. An extensive search was made of the area but there was no trace of anyone.”