Hundreds evacuated after bomb scare

Hundreds of people were evacuated after a Second World War bomb was handed in to a Black Country police station - after being discovered by the father of Britain's Got Talent star Connie Talbot.

Wednesbury bus station was closed, the town's Morrisons supermarket evacuated and children and pensioners led to safety after police were alerted to the three foot-long shell.

A 1,000ft cordon was set up around the police station, in Holyhead Road yesterday, where the device, later revealed to be an inert Second World War shell, was lying in Mr Talbot's work van.

Around 50 residents of high rise block Russell House for the elderly were evacuated and taken by double decker bus to nearby Mecca Bingo, just outside the exclusion zone on the corner of Holyhead Road and Dudley Street.

They were joined by 53 staff and children from nearby Wonderland Nursery.

The shell had been unwittingly picked up by Gavin Talbot, father of Streetly singing star Connie, during a house clearance in Leicester earlier in the day.

The 43-year-old then embarked on a 55-mile journey in his van to a tip in Walsall Road, Darlaston, where the shell was discovered.

"One of the lads must have loaded it on to the van without realising," said Mr Talbot, who runs property maintenance company Gavin Talbot Services.

"When we got to the tip I saw it and thought, what the hell is that? I think one of the guys at the tip was an ex-Army officer and he said 'that looks like a bomb to me, let's get it to the police'."

Father-of-three Mr Talbot, who is married to Sharon, drove carefully to Wednesbury police station, where he told an officer about the device which was sitting in his van outside.

"I couldn't believe it when the police man came out and said 'that's a bomb'. Then all of a sudden the alarms were going and they were evacuating everything nearby.

"The Army disposal guy said we had done the right thing and thankfully, it wasn't explosive."

There were queues of traffic as roads including Holyhead Road, Potters Lane and Russell Street were cordoned off with police tape while the Army's Explosives Ordnance Disposal team was called in.

Staff and shoppers were ordered out of Morrisons, directly opposite the police station, following the alert at 3.40pm.

Roland Prentice aged 70, of nearby Russell House tower block, who was in the store when the alarm was raised, said: "Staff started coming round saying 'everyone out'.

"They told us a bus was coming to take everybody to Mecca Bingo for tea and coffee, while the Army was called."

Hayley Sowden, aged 39, manager of the nursery on Holyhead Road said: "The children were not fazed at all. It was just a big adventure to them."

Staff at the bingo hall provided drinks and crisps for the children. Donna Brownhill, duty manager at Mecca Bingo, said: "The police arrived en mass just before 4pm to see if we could offer shelter for the youngsters and pensioners and we were only too happy to help.

"The whole thing has really surreal. I have never seen anything like it in the 13 years I have worked here."

An Army robot erected in the middle of Holyhead Road by the Explosives Ordnance Disposal Regiment from Ashchurch in Gloucestershire discovered the shell had no explosives and the area was declared safe shortly before 6pm.

Inspector Mark Cooper of Wednesbury police station, who headed the 20-strong evacuation team, said: "This was a Second World War bomb that was picked up during a house clearance. When incidents like this occur our first priority is to make sure people in the area are safe."

Contrary to earlier reports the Midland Metro and Junction 9 of the M6 were unaffected.