A Taser was accidentally discharged at a nuclear power station, it has been revealed.

It happened when a police officer at the Hunterston B power station in Ayrshire took the weapon, which had been removed from its holster, out of his locker.

No-one was injured and no property was damaged as a result of the incident, on March 7 this year.

But the Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC) - the armed police force in charge of protecting civil nuclear sites and nuclear materials in England, Scotland and Wales - has told officers that Tasers should not be removed from their holsters unless they are being issued to officers or being used.

The Police Investigations and Review Commissioner was called in to carry out an independent review of what had happened.

It found officers at the power station had been allowed to store their body armour, with Tasers attached, in their lockers as there was a short of secure storage boxes.

The officer concerned had taken the weapon out of its holster because of the lack of space in his locker and when he went to retrieve it later he accidentally discharged it.

Commissioner Kate Frame said: "The incident would not have happened if practice and procedures for the safe storage of weapons had been followed.

"Since the event, the CNC has taken steps to improve its procedures and instructed its officers that they should only remove weapons from their holsters during issue and return, or when they are being operationally deployed."