Shocked harbour bosses have just discovered they are facing a massive £500,000 bill to help bale out a national pension pot.

The Dart Harbour board is already lobbying MPs and trying to negotiate with pension chiefs to try to sort out just how the huge bill can be paid.

But the sum of money the board owes is more than a third of the authority's annual turnover.

Harbourmaster Rob Giles has warned boat owners they can kiss goodbye to any significant harbour board projects in the port for at least the next five years.

The cash is for Pilots National Pension Fund which has a monster £180m black hole.

For more on this story, see this week's Dartmouth Chronicle