AN ELDERLY Troon woman struggled in vain to get off the local beach - when she discovered the sand under the bottom step had eroded.

The OAP, who was out walking her dog on the beach last week, became isolated when she tried to get back up from the sand to the street.

The issue was raised at Troon Community Council last week, with Dawn Barr saying it was “an absolute disgrace.”

She said: “Someone who wants to remain anonymous contacted me and said that they had to help an elderly woman off of the beach.

"They said that she was shouting out for help because there wasn’t a step for her to step up on.

“It is an absolute disgrace that the woman could not get off the beach.

“She could have became very unwell and what if no one was there to help?”

South Ayrshire Council later confirmed underneath the bottom step, sand was indeed missing and blamed erosion for the problem.

They said the matter would now be fixed within the next few weeks, with the addition of two steps.

A temporary backfill will be put in place before the long-term work to solve the problem is carried out.

Mike Newall, head of neighbourhood services at South Ayrshire Council, said: “We want to ensure that locals and tourists enjoy our beaches to their fullest potential throughout the year and good access is an important part of this. 

“We were made aware that erosion caused a drop between the last step and the sand at one particular set of steps on Troon beach. 

He added: “The steps were inspected that same day and we have arranged to backfill sand and earth to form a solid platform beneath the last step as a temporary solution. 

“To solve the issue in the longer-term, we will add two more steps and this work will be carried out in the next few weeks.”