A controlled explosion was carried out on a suspect package found during rush hour at a town centre railway station.

Staff found the brown box with wires sticking out close to inflammable liquids at Hastings station yesterday.

More than 150 people were moved out of the station and police threw a cordon around the entrance shortly after the discovery at about 4pm.

A bomb disposal team from Kent was summoned.

It sent in a remote controlled device to detonate the box.

It later emerged the box contained only railway literature.

Connex South East laid on 22 buses to ferry people to stations at Bexhill and Battle.

Trains into Hastings, West St Leonards, St Leonards Warrior Square and Crowhurst were cancelled.

British Transport Police said the package was not believed to be suspicious and were not linking it to the atrocities in the United States.