A man has been caught on CCTV vandalising a vital rescue boat at Dover Sea Sports Centre.

The man can be seen with what appears to be a large knife as he slashes the inflatable boat.

The images have been posted on Facebook and YouTube with more than 50,000 views in the hope that the vandal can be identified.

Danie Juden, water sports manager, said: "It's really shocking people that someone is getting away with walking around with a knife that big. It's lucky it was just a boat really."

The damage is thought to cost £1,000 and has rendered one of the safety boats, used for courses for children, out of action for the summer season until it can be fixed.

On their Facebook page, Dover Sea Sports Centre staff said: “So we spend the day promoting sea sport activities for the Dover community and then whack... locking up we find that our safety rescue inflatable boat has been slashed in the worst possible places.

“Deliberate vandalism that has now wrecked a boat used for looking after everyone who use the water.

"CCTV will be checked in the morning, so hopefully the culprits will be seen but this now means we’re a safety boat down.”

It happened on Monday, May 2, at around 10pm and the CCTV footage was posted on the site on Wednesday.

Unfortunately, the man’s face cannot be seen in the video but the Port of Dover Police are now investigating and reviewing other CCTV along the promenade.

Ms Juden said from the video it looks like the man tried to move the boat, which was chained outside, gets frustrated and decides to vandalise it instead.

She said: "He knew what he was doing."

A spokesman for Port of Dover Police said: "PoD Police have circulated the CCTV footage and checked that no other incidents took place over the Bank Holiday weekend."

If anyone has any information call the Port of Dover Police on 01304 216084.