THE police helicopter was scrambled when shoppers in Chippenham mistook a cigarette lighter for a gun.

Police were called last Thursday after a resident reported a youth walking around the Station Hill area with what looked like a revolver.

Detective Constable Mark Kent of Chippenham CID, said eight to ten officers were dispatched to the scene as well as the helicopter.

After about an hour a 17-year-old youth gave himself up to an officer on the beat because he noticed there were so many police about and suspected his lighter may have triggered the alert.

The teenager was searched and found with the cigarette lighter that looked like a silver revolver. "It was the same size as a gun," said DC Kent.

DC Kent said the teenager, who approached the police officer near Wiltshire College in Cocklebury Road, had not committed an offence, but was given a stern warning about carrying something which looked like a firearm.

"From our point of view, anyone who takes something resembling a firearm out into the public is opening themselves up to causing problems in terms of people reporting it and police intervention," said DC Kent.

"We had to take this incident very seriously until he was found."

DC Kent said that anyone carrying anything resembling a gun could cause fear to the public and waste a lot of police time. He said it was possible for someone to be charged with an offence, even if they were not carrying a real firearm.