Live mortar bomb brought to Littlehampton police station

8:02am Tuesday 18th May 2010 in News By Rebecca Evans

A police station was evacuated after a man brought in a live Second World War mortar bomb he had found in some woods.

The man had discovered the bomb whilst digging in Whiteway Woods near Arundel on Monday.

He took it to Littlehampton police station at about 7.45pm where he left it in his van parked outside.

The station was evacuated, as was the nearby ambulance station and the probation offices and police set up a 100 metre cordon.

No homes were evacuated.

The Royal Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal team arrived from Portsmouth at about 9.30pm.

They established it was a live device but said it was safe to remove in a container and the cordon was lifted by 9.40pm.

A police spokesman said: "The Ordnance Disposal team ask us to remind people that they should leave such devices where they are found and call police so that experts can come to the scene at deal with them safely."

Comments(9)

Mike D P says...
8:30am Tue 18 May 10

What a clever man!! "Look i've found a bomb, would you like to see it? i've brought it with me, Its in my van outside"

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Andy R says...
9:04am Tue 18 May 10

Amazing how counterintuitively some people behave sometimes.

If I were to come across something like that which had obviously lain undisturbed for decades without going off, the last thing I would think of doing would be to introduce a completely unknown variable into the equation by moving the darn thing!

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jyan says...
9:41am Tue 18 May 10

He so nearly wins a Darwin Award...and by shear luck doesn't!

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Whitedot says...
11:41am Tue 18 May 10

Did the bloke have a long grey beard and a turban.

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Old Dog says...
11:44am Tue 18 May 10

'Evacuated the police station'? In my day at Newhaven we had an explosives pit at the back of the police station because people were always bringing in objects they'd found on the beach. We even had a chap one Sunday afternoon bring in a bucket of WW2 hand grenades he'd dug up in his garden! We just put them in the pit and sent for the Bomb Disposal crew.

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voiceofthescoombe says...
11:58am Tue 18 May 10

muppet
had some fisherman bring a mortar bomb he'd dragged up to TA centre in hastings once. Asked us if it was one of ours and if we wanted it back!
Theres enough bombs and stuff from ww1 and 2 to keep bomb disposal busy until 2150ad if you find anymore mustrad gas shells leave them be.:(

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UglyAmerican says...
1:21am Wed 19 May 10

Humans are funny.....

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bosshog says...
7:30am Wed 19 May 10

i expect the desk clerk at the police station has never moved so fast. what a classic..

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John Steed says...
7:46am Wed 19 May 10

when I handed in a bucket or two of live (but severely corroded) WW11 rounds that had turned up in some ballast dredged off chichester The only exclusion zone was the dog kennel (where they stored the bucket until it was collected)
the only evacuation apprently was a stray dog. Oh the happy days of lewes old police station

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