A REMOVALS man sparked a bomb scare after finding a grenade during a house clearance.

Police were called to Leighton Road in Hove this afternoon.

Robert Herriott, of Herriott’s House Clearing,  found in a box from a previous job in Osborne Villas in Hove this afternoon.

Army bomb experts have been called in and homes in the quiet residential street remained cordoned off before their arrival.

Mr Herriott said: “We do house clearances and I was doing a job in Osborne Villas yesterday, clearing the house of a collector.

“I took the stuff with me in my van and moved it to the job in Leighton Road, that was when I found the grenade.

“It’s the first time I’ve found a hand grenade. It still had the pin in it. We looked on the internet and it looks like it’s  a nose grenade.

“The website said that if you throw it, it will explode. I think it is from the First World War. It had been in the back of my van since yesterday.”

He lives next door to the homes in Leighton Road, and was surprised to find the explosive device in the boxes.

“You don’t think about it at the time, it’s not until afterwards you think, what if that went off? What would have happened?” He added.

The police cordon remained in place today, and Argus reporter Harry Bullmore spoke to Mr Herriott and to neighbours.

One neighbour said: "When I arrived home there were about four police cars and they'd cordoned off some houses.

"I heard that had found something, but I didn't know much about what was happening at all."

Police said a Ministry of Defence expert team from the EOD unit has been called in to check the grenade this evening.

In a statement, the force said: "We are responding to reports of a suspected hand grenade at Leighton Road in Hove. The EOD unit has been called in shortly after 1.30pm."