Twenty-five firefighters with special search equipment were scrambled to the canalside in Crossflatts, Bingley, to reports of a mysterious trail of footprints in the snow.

There were footprints leading to the canal but none back out again. Five fire engines, including water rescue units from Bingley, Brighouse and Leeds, were called to the Leeds Liverpool Canal, off Canal Road.

They arrived at the scene at 1pm yesterday and spent almost an hour searching the banks and the canal. Rubber dinghies were inflated and steered out onto the surface of the water.

No sign of anything untoward was discovered and firefighters left police to make enquiries.