THE bomb disposal team was scrambled and homes were evacuated after reports that an unexploded bomb had been uncovered in Accrington.

Teams swooped to Wensley Drive at lunch time on Sunday, after resident, Graham Walsh, hit a large chunk of metal as he was digging up his garden.

Fearing that it could be an unexploded bomb, as it was buried under soil with only a small nipple-like part exposed, worried Mr Walsh called the police, who in turn called the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team.

Fortunately, after a few hours of digging and with several houses told to evacuate, it was established that the ‘bomb’ wasn’t actually a bomb, but an old metal fence post.

Sergeant Craig Jarrett said: “Mr Walsh came across what he thought was an unexploded ordnance device.

“We attended and evacuated several houses, and the EOD were called, along with the fire service. After some time and a little digging, it was revealed to be a long cast iron fence post, but I don’t blame Mr Walsh for thinking it looked like a bomb.”

Mr Walsh, who lives in the property with his wife, Elaine, said he hit the metallic cylindrical shaped post and at first thought it was a big rock.

He said: “I dug a little deeper to expose it and it looked very bomb-like so I called the police. I was a little worried as I’d hit it a fair few times, but I left it in place for them to deal with. Even though I couldn’t see all of it I wanted to just make sure it wasn’t anything dangerous that was going to explode.”

Mr and Mrs Walsh were told to leave their home for a few hours while the emergency teams dealt with the mystery object and a cordon was set up from mid-way up Wensley Drive down to Accrington St Anne’s and St Joseph’s primary school.

Once the EOD were satisfied the object wasn’t a bomb, the cordon was taken down and teams left the scene at around 4pm.