Darlaston families' distress at grenade evacuation

Hundreds of residents were kept out of their homes for more than five hours and pupils sent home from school during the drama in Darlaston yesterday.

The Army's bomb disposal team were called in after police found the grenade during a drugs raid on a house in Addenbrooke Street.

Fifteen cannabis plants were also found inside one of the upstairs rooms and a 53-year-old man and 54-year-old woman were arrested on suspicion of drugs cultivation and held in custody for questioning. They were today both bailed pending further inquiries.

The incident unfolded after police carried out the raid at 8.15am.

Residents were quickly alerted by officers going door-to-door and nearby roads sealed off. The sick and elderly were ferried from their properties in police vans.

At Bentley Leisure Pavilion, an emergency rest centre was set up, with taxis laid on to transport shocked residents. Many also took refuge at the homes of friends and family.

Buses were diverted along other routes and staff and children from St Joseph's Primary moved to Rough Hay Primary nearby where parents were told to pick them up.

Mother-of-four Emma Young, of Addenbrooke Street, was away from her home for six hours.

She said: "It was all a bit of a surprise. We were late dropping the kids off at school because of the road closures and told we couldn't go back to our homes.

"Nobody told us what was going on, just that an incident had happened and we had to get out for our own safety."

The 28-year-old, along with 21 other stranded residents, was directed to Darlaston Conservative Club in Little Cross Street where taxis took them to the leisure pavilion. Volunteers from Old Hall People's Partnership, which runs the centre, made them soup and hot drinks.

Ms Young said: "We were made very comfortable there but we'd rather have been at home. I'm really angry we were put in this position."

Army bomb disposal experts from Gloucester were already attending an incident in South Wales and did not get to the scene in Darlasron until just before 2pm.

They found the grenade to be de-commissioned and posed no danger.

West Midlands Police said it was being used to keep pencils inside.

Addenbrooke Street, Addenbrooke Place, Rough Hay Road and Garrington Street were re-opened shortly after 2pm and residents allowed back into their homes. Lung cancer sufferer Samuel Hale, aged 60, was waiting for a delivery of oxygen from Air Products when police knocked on the family's door in Addenbrooke Street. Officers allowed his medical van to pass through the cordon.

Wife Pauline, 53, said: "It's terrible that this situation has happened."

Retired production manager Kenneth Hesson, 65, was scraping the ice off his car when he saw police batter down the door of the house. He said: "They were evacuating so many people, I thought it must be a bomb factory inside."

Ravinder Chohan, aged 34, a teaching assistant at St Joseph's said they were alerted at 9.10am. "We got the children on to the playground and walked them across to Rough Hay School. The whole thing took less than 10 minutes. When I found out it was a hand grenade, I was scared."

Fellow teaching assistant Mohinder Kaur said the staff were unable to collect their cars until the scare was over.

It was originally believed there had been a controlled explosion on the grenade but emergency services later confirmed that was not the case. The neighbourhood had today returned to normal, with every resident back in their homes.