A “Reggie Perrin” style beach disappearance mystery was solved when a man admitted he had lost two sets of clothes while taking part in a solo yoga session.
The alarm was raised when the first garments were discovered abandoned on Margate beach at around 8.30pm on Monday.
And when police combed the area they found a second set six hours later.
At one stage it was feared two people had gone into the sea leaving shirts and trousers behind – just as the 70s BBC sitcom character did in order to fake a suicide and start a new life in the cult comedy “The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin”.
Lifeboats were called out to patrol the coastline and an area of the beach was sealed off.
But the mystery evaporated when a man in his 40s contacted police saying he had stripped off for a yoga session – but then forgotten where he had left his clothes.
While searching for them he became disorientated – and forgot where he had left an emergency set taken onto the sand for such a crisis.
A police dive team from Sussex was even on standby but was immediately told the matter was closed.
A police spokeswoman said: “This was really not an intentional waste of police time – just an unfortunate incident.
“We are pleased it has ended happily and we will take no further action against the person concerned.”
POSTED: 12/08/2008 13:30:00
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