A pensioner sparked a security alert when phials she picked up from a beach were discovered to contain suspected anthrax vaccine.

The woman, from Ferring near Worthing, had been collecting the tubes off beaches at Ferring and Kingston, near Littlehampton, since September and stored them in her coal bunker.

She contacted firefighters at East Preston fire station yesterday lunchtime after hearing reports that phials believed to contain the vaccine were washing up on beaches in Dorset and Hampshire.

Fire officials immediately contacted police who got in touch with Arun District Council's environmental health department.

The council said last night safety experts had been informed and the phials would be tested.

A spokesman said: "Obviously we have to be careful about anything that is found washed up on the beach.

"We don't know what the phials contain and will be investigating further."

The phials are 7in to 8in long with a stopper at one end.

The woman, who asked not to be named, said: "I feel very embarrassed that I have caused any fuss.

"I only picked them up off the beach because I thought they might be dangerous to children. I have been picking them up and taking them home with me for several months and it was only when I heard the news about what was washing up that I thought I had better call the fire brigade.

"I just assumed they were samples of some kind."

Arun health officials are due to continue their investigations today into what the phials contain.