RED-FACED Dorset County Council bosses launched an investigation after its newsletter advised readers to throw stones inland in a bid to slow coastal erosion.

The report in Your Dorset - a newsletter delivered to 200,000 homes - claimed everyone should do their bit in the battle against global warming.

It even said the council would be organising special stone-throwing events and providing T-shirts to participants.

The report read: Next time you go paddling at low tide pick up any suitable stones and throw them carefully towards land.

To encourage responsible throwing the county council ranger service, in conjunction with Natural England, will be organising events and issuing official T-shirts to registered throwers.' But it has now emerged the report was a joke.

Council leader Angus Campbell said: "It was an internal thing which somehow got through the editing process and into the paper, and I'm determined this sort of thing shouldn't happen again.

"It's not that I haven't got a sense of humour. As an internal joke it's fine, but having something like that in Your Dorset could be very confusing to people - they might take it seriously." And it seems that South Dorset MP Jim Knight did.

He said: "When I was first asked about this I thought it was bizarre.

"I do know there are signs on Chesil Beach saying don't take stones away because of erosion.

"As long as it was organised safely and it worked then that would be fine.

"I was also told that it was in the Dorset County Council newsletter and had the support of Natural England, which gave it some credibility."

But it appears that although the idea has some logic, it is not very plausible.

Peter Sims, coastal erosion expert at Plymouth University, said: "I'm smiling as I think about this. The sheer number of stones that would have to be thrown would be immense - if you think about how many stones would fit into a JCB digger bucket."