A warning has been issued about safely disposing of expired coastal flares after a box of the devices was dumped on the doorstep of a Moray coastguard station.
The out-of-date pyrotechnics were left outside the Buckie coastguard office and discovered by volunteers on Sunday afternoon.
Whoever dumped the box did so despite signs on the station door detailing who to phone about getting rid of flares, and signs that warned that they must be safely disposed of.
They were also left in full view of the public, which meant they could have potentially been picked up and used by children.
A post on the Moray Coastguard Facebook site issued a stark warning to anyone else who might feel the need to “drop off” expired pyrotechnics outside the premises.
It read: “The team followed their procedures and secured the pyrotechnics before transporting to our licensed store in Inverness.
“It is an offence, and dangerous to dump marine pyrotechnics.”
This is not the first time expired flares have been dumped in Buckie, with coastguard officers appealing for information last year after a bag of flares containing more than 3kg of explosives was found outside of their base.
Some of those were 40 years old and were disposed of through the proper channels.
For queries regarding the disposal of out of date pyrotechnics , people should contact the Coastguard Operations Centre in Aberdeen on 01224 592334.